Again?
by Hope July
Summary: Everything seems perfect in Emma and Killian's life. They are madly in love with each other and their 2-year-old son, Liam, is a little angel. But things are actually a lot more complicated than that. While a new crisis is disturbing the town and the new people's presence is a bit mysterious, Emma has to face violent and horrible sicknesses...
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! Here I come with this new fiction! I consider it as the sequel of "It's gonna be okay", but you don't have to read the first volume to understand this story properly. Here's the few things you need to know to get everything that's happening here because I've started to write this story before the end of the season 5B, so they are a few changes from the actual show :  
**

 **\- Emma and Killian have a little boy, Liam, who is 2. They are engaged and are living together**

 **\- Gold is hiding somewhere since he came back from the Underworld. He can't use his magic because of a bracelet Regina has put around his wrist**

 **\- Belle has never been pregnant and Gideon doesn't exist**

 **\- Robin is still alive (because I'm in denial xD)**

 **\- Zelena has never come back from Oz. Regina and Robin are taking care of baby Robyn**

 **\- This story is taking place 2 years after the events of the first volume**

 **I'm warning everyone who has read the first volume and is reading the sequel : it's the same basis (the title is pretty explicit actually xD), so don't be too surprised by the fact some things seem the same. I was finding it interesting to write the same basis but with a totally different plot as there is a crisis in town this time.**

 **I will update every Monday and Friday for a while. This story is 40 chapters long, and for those who doesn't know me, my native language is French so I sincerely apologize for the mistakes I probably made. Enjoy this story everyone, I hope you'll like it! :)**

* * *

"Swan, are you okay?"

Killian's voice was sounding weirdly distorted through the bathroom's door. I feverishly wiped off the sweat that was covering my forehead and opened my mouth to answer, but I got interrupted by my stomach, which seemed painfully turned upside down. I had just the time to lean above the toilet to throw up the last remains of my breakfast.

When I was finally sure that my sickness was over because of the fact my stomach was now empty and I had nothing else to vomit, I sat down on the paved floor to try and breathe at a slower pace. I had a disturbing taste in my mouth, and my throat was burning like hell. I was feeling so weak I was scared to be unable to get up and stay on my feet. I heard someone banging at the door, and Killian said in a worried tone :

"Emma, if you don't answer now, I'm opening the door!"

"I'm okay!" I shouted in a husky voice to prevent him from worrying too much. "I'm coming!"

I put both my hands on the sink to get on my feet. My legs were shaking quite violently. I let the water run a little bit to wash my mouth and put some on my face to clear up my head. I glanced at my reflexion in the mirror in front of me, but quickly looked away. Too pale, too skinny, with big bags under my eyes. My green eyes were looking huge combined to my sunken cheeks because of my weight loss. What the hell was happening to me?

I ended up going out of the little room with somewhat shaky steps. I looked up to meet Killian's gaze, who was standing beside the door. He was looking at me with concern, and said with a frown :

"Are you all right?"

"I've lived better." I mumbled, leaning against the wall in order not to collapse on the ground.

"You've lost weight, haven't you?" He asked with a little wince.

"Given the fact I'm throwing up everything I'm trying to eat for two weeks, I guess it's not that surprising."

I had tried to joke, but my comment seemed to have worried him even more. Seeing how bad he was feeling, I forced myself to smile because I didn't want him to worry about me. I said in a teasing tone in order to erase his look :

"I don't even know why I'm still trying to eat, because my body is clearly telling me to go fuck myself."

"You need to go see Whale." He resumed without even paying attention to my joke, saying the words I was hearing so often these past few days.

"If only I had the time to do so." I sighted, before adding because of his look. "Don't worry, okay? It's probably just a liver problem of some sort. I take three pills and I feel better."

I smiled at him in a comforting way, but I wasn't so sure of myself. I had actually started to think that something quite important was happening with my body a little while before already. But the thing was that I didn't want to admit it to myself because I was terrified. I knew I couldn't deny what was happening for much longer, but for now it was actually helping me not to panic. I was aware that if I went to see Whale, he would tell me what was going on, and in a way I didn't want to know. I was then always postponing our appointment, inventing stories to explain myself. I wanted to believe that I was worrying for nothing and that it would get better soon. But it wasn't the case, and I was getting more and more desperate.

"Don't worry?" Killian repeated, rolling his eyes. "Are you kidding me? Of course I'm concerned! I don't know much about medicine stuffs, but I do know that throwing up three times a day isn't a good thing. You seem exhausted..."

"Well, that's not because of my sicknesses, that's because of a little boy who decided to scare us to death."

Our son, Liam, had just turned two and he was absolutely adorable. Loving, cheerful, obedient, he wasn't giving us any problems, and we had never had to punish him for anything. We were both very close to him, and we were so in love with this little guy.

But the night prior, he had suddenly started to run a fever out of nowhere, and we had stayed with him until sunrise. We had called Whale to see if the fever could be dangerous because we were both panicking like hell, but he had told us not to worry, and that we could come to the hospital in the morning if the fever was persisting. Luckily, he had finally gotten better around 5 a.m., and he had fallen asleep in our arms, thing that was explaining the fact he wasn't awake yet at almost noon. I was absolutely exhausted, I had only gotten a few hours of sleep, and in my condition it wasn't a good thing.

"Mommy!" I little voice suddenly called me from the room at the end of the corridor.

"Talking about him." I said with a small smile, pulling away from the wall and feeling like I was now able to walk without risking to pass out.

My cell phone started to ring in the kitchen as I was finishing my sentence. I sighted, and Killian turned his head toward the stairs to say :

"I'll go pick it up."

"I'll go get Liam."

"We're such a good team." He laughed.

"Aren't we?"

He lifted up his hand, and I gave him a high-five with a giggle as I was walking toward my son's room. Liam's birth had made us get even closer, if only it was possible. Of course, we were arguing sometimes, but our fights were never lasting more than a few hours and we were making up really quickly. But things had got a bit harder these past few weeks. I was feeling very nervous because throwing up three times a day was absolutely exhausting, and I was getting mad a lot easier than usual. Killian was fortunately really sweet with me, and he wasn't even getting annoyed by my behavior most of the time. I was always realizing that I had been wrong quite quickly anyway, and I was apologizing with tears in my eyes because I was hating myself for the way I was treating him. To make me feel better, he was showing me that he wasn't holding grudge with a hug and a kiss on the head. He was actually mostly worried about my health. Putting myself in his shoes, I could understand that. If it had been him who was emptying his stomach every five hours, I would have been absolutely panicked.

I finally got to my son's room and walked toward the crib in which Liam was standing, waiting for me patiently. The room was enlightened by the little pilot light that was laying on the night table. Toys and fluffed animals were laying everywhere in a harmonious mess, giving a warm and welcoming atmosphere to the room.

"How are you, sweetheart? Are you feeling better?" I asked in a soft voice

I gently pressed my hand against his forehead and was comforted by the fact he wasn't running a fever anymore. I looked at my son for a few seconds with a little smile on my face. He was gorgeous. He was looking a lot like Killian, he had his dark hair and his smile, but he had two huge green eyes, just like mine, that were always looking around him as if he was trying to understand everything.

I lifted him up and took him in my arms. He giggled, wrapped his arms around my neck and shouted enthusiastically :

"Hungry!"

"You hungry?" I asked in a cheerful tone. "That's good! Do you want to eat your breakfast now?"

"Yeah!" He cried out with a huge smile on his face.

"Well let's go in that case!" I answered while starting to tickle him a little bit, and he laughed aloud. "I don't want to let my little prince be hungry!"

"Mommy, my teddy!" He called with a pout as I was walking to go out of the room.

"How could I forget?" I said with a laugh, and he giggled one more time.

I turned back to go and get the little teddy bear. It was a fluffed animal my parents had given Liam when he was born, and it was never leaving his side. I gave him his toy, and he hold it against him with a smile, before finally walking down the stair to go into the kitchen.

I helped Liam sitting down in his baby chair and walked toward one of the closet to make him a sandwich. I stopped for a few seconds in front of the huge board covering the wall, on which we were pinning the pictures of our little family. I looked at the dozens of photographs with a smile. A few of them were about Killian and I, one of them from when I was pregnant with Liam. We were looking so close and in love, always looking and smiling at each other. It wasn't much : his hand on the small of my back, our fingers intertwined, but it was obvious how much we loved each other. Family portraits, my parents and I, and, everywhere, pictures of Henry and Liam. My favorite was the one were Henry was holding his baby brother in his arms at Granny's when we had introduced our two-week-old son to the town. Henry was now 16, and he was growing up so fast. He was such a lovely young man, and he loved his brother so much. I was so proud of him. It was the week where he was staying at Regina's, so I hadn't seen him yet that day. He was a real big brother for Roland and Robyn, Zelena's daughter, who Regina was raising with Robin. The witch was still in Oz, and we were starting to wonder what had happened to her. But we were in peace for now anyway, and things were way better like that. Robyn was deserving better than to be raised by an unstable witch who could hurt her without even realizing it.

I heard Liam starting to wriggle behind my back, probably getting impatient. I hurried up to go and get his food in the closet. The smell of the bread and jelly made me feel sick again, and I winced while sitting at the table. It was like my body was not only refusing to let me eat, but was also against the fact I approached any kind of food.

I heard Killian's steps coming my way, and looked up. I started talking while making Liam's breakfast, trying to ignore the nausea and the pain in my stomach :

"Who was it?"

"Your father. He said there is an emergency. He asked us to come to Central Park right away."

"He didn't say what's wrong?" I asked, a bit triggered by his words, as Killian was greeting Liam with a kiss on the forehead.

"No, he didn't. He said he wanted to explain everything when we'll get there. Do you think we can drive Liam to Ashley's? I don't want the other kids to get sick."

"I think it's okay." I mumbled, finally putting my knife on the table and giving up on fighting against my nausea. "Can you help me with that?"

"What's going on?" He gently joked, putting his hand on my shoulder. "You've lost the ability to make a sandwich?"

I didn't answer and suddenly got up to walk away from the table. I was feeling like throwing up, and placed a hand on my stomach as if it was going to help me. I tried to take some deep breaths in order not to vomit again. My sickness finally started to disappear, and I sighted in relief.

"Are you okay?" Killian asked, approaching me to look at me with concern.

"I'm fine." I sighted once again. "It's getting better already. But you'll have to pay me if you want me to come near this damn table again."

He offered me a small smile and leaned forward to press a kiss on my lips, as if he was trying to encourage me. I smiled at him to reassure him, and he sat back down on the table to finally gave his breakfast to Liam.

"Your father said it was urgent, but I think Liam's stomach is saying the exact same thing." He stated with a smile as our son was starting to literally devour his meal.

"He can wait ten minutes." I shrugged. "We're not hearing people screaming, so I guess the emergency isn't a big one. The situation is not going to get any worse while Liam is eating."

He smiled at me, and I looked at my son for a few minutes. He was looking so much better now. It was not my case, unfortunately.

* * *

Unusually panting, I was following Killian, who was holding a laughing Liam in his arm and was walking up the stairs to join Ashley's apartment. The young woman was holding the day care in town, and she was taking care of our son when we had to go and solve an emergency. Neal, Robyn and Roland were also staying at her place, and they could play with Alex, Ashley's daughter. It was a good thing for the kids to play all together, and they were safe when we had to go and face dangers. Even if we had done that hundreds of times, I couldn't help myself but feel a little pinch in my chest every time I had to walk away from my son. I would have wanted to spend all the time in the world with him, Henry and Killian. It was therefore hard for me to leave him at Ashley's, even if I knew she was the absolute best with kids.

I hurried up a bit to join Killian. I was slowed down by Liam's heavy bag, and my exhaustion was making me move slower than usual. I arrived in front of Ashley's door with a pain on my side. I put my hand on my ribs, trying to calm it down, panting like hell.

"Are you okay?" Killian asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

I gave him a thumb up in a somewhat sarcastic way, and he laughed at my reaction. He started talking in a teasing tone, thinking that if I was able to scoff him, I was feeling fine :

"You should go outside and do some sort of sports, your stamina isn't that good these days."

I knew he was joking to calm his own worry, and I smiled at him, mumbling in a falsely offended way :

"You wouldn't laugh if it was you who wasn't able to eat anything anymore."

"Technically, you can eat. You just throw up right after." He added with half a smile.

"Liam's presence is forbidding me to insult you, so I prefer to stay quiet." I replied, and he burst out laughing.

He leaned forward to press a kiss on my temple as the front door was opening. Ashley greeted us with a smile and said hi to Liam by kissing his forehead.

"A new emergency, huh?" She asked, before adding because of my surprised expression : "Your parents just left, they explained everything to me. Your brother is here, you want to come in for a minute?"

I thought about her proposition for a second before nodding. We were already late, but I wanted to say hi to my baby brother before going. Ashley smiled, and Killian and I walked into the apartment. I approached my brother with a smile, but he didn't see me, too busy playing with the other kids.

"Neal?" I called him gently.

"Emma!" He enthusiastically shouted after recognizing my voice.

He ran toward me, and I squatted to hug him. We were getting along really well. He was now 3 and a half, and I loved spending time with him. I was taking care of him several afternoons a month to take him to the park or show him a movie. I was really enjoying my time with him. He was a bit unruly, but he was adorable, and always smiling. I was finding that important to play my big sister's part in his life. I wanted him to trust me, and a real bound had started to form between us and we were now very close.

"How are you, sweetie?" I said after kissing his forehead.

"Fine! You're staying with us?" He asked, his eyes sparkling.

"I can't, Neal, I have to go and join mom and dad. We have work to do. But we'll see each other later, okay?" I answered, before adding, seeing the disappointment look on my brother's face. "Look, Liam is here to play with you."

Neal smiled and I looked behind my shoulder to see Killian putting Liam on the floor. My brother walked away from me to go and take Liam's hand. The two little boys were getting along very well, and I smiled seeing them so close.

"Liam is a such a lovely little boy." Ashley said as I got up to smile at her. "I've never seen him fighting with another kid."

"He's adorable." I nodded, looking at my son who was playing with Neal, before sighting : "We have to go now. We're already late, and my dad is going to kill us both if we make him wait longer."

"You're right." Killian said, before turning back to talk to the kids. "Liam, we have to go. But we'll be back before you know it, I promise."

Our son looked at us with a little pout. He stood up to run toward us, and he wrapped his arms around my neck as I was kneeling on the floor.

"We will only be gone for a little while, Liam." I reassured him as he was looking like he didn't want to let me go. "Listen to Ashley and be good, all right?"

I gently pulled away from him, and he looked at me as if I had just betrayed him grandly. I forced myself to smile and put a hand on his head, saying gently :

"See you later, baby."

We left the place quite quickly to avoid making him cry. It was hard enough to leave Liam like that but when he was starting to sob, it was absolutely heartbreaking to leave him there. But I was aware I couldn't let my feelings decide for me. The town needed us.

"You all right?" Killian asked again as we were walking down the stairs, taking my hand in his.

"Mmm." I grunted absent-mindlessly. "I'm wondering what's the emergency this time. I hope it isn't too bad..."

"The town hasn't exploded yet, so I guess things are okay." Hook joked.

I smiled because of his comment, and sat down behind the wheel in the yellow bug. I discreetly sighted, hoping that Killian was right and things were going to be okay. I was feeling incapable of facing a crisis right now.

* * *

 **Here we go, I hope you liked the first chapter! See you friday, you'll see what the mergency is then! ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi guys! Thanks to everyone who followed and put this story in their favorite, and thanks a lot to oncer4life11 for the review! Here's the next chapter, I hope you'll like it!**

* * *

We arrived at Central Park a little bit later than expected. My dad and Henry were waiting for us near one of the entrance. We quickly walked toward them, and I noticed they were both bouncing up and down because of their impatience. I winced, feeling guilty for making them wait, and even if I was still feeling weak, I almost ran toward them as if I was trying to apologize.

"Sorry for the delay." Killian stated as we were arriving near them.

"Hey, kid! Hey, dad!" I added, panting and a hand on my ribs to try and breathe slower. "What's happening?"

"Well, it's completely awesome, you're not going to believe it." Henry answered, his eyes shinning in excitement.

"What?" I asked without understanding why he wasn't really answering my question. "Why?"

"Oh, no, we want to witness your reaction when you'll see what's going on." He replied in a teasing tone.

I rolled my eyes. If everything had been normal, I would have smiled because of the joke and kindly asked my son to tell me everything, but I wasn't in a really good mood and I was already fighting against myself in order not to start screaming in the middle of the road.

"Henry, that's really funny, truly." I mumbled, trying to stay calm." But I'm not in the mood. Dad?" I asked, turning to look at my father and seek for his help

"He's right, you know." He shrugged with a smile. "You wouldn't believe us if we told you anyway."

I looked at Killian, one of my eyebrow raised in annoyance. I saw him biting his bottom lip to avoid smiling because of my bad mood. He forced himself to hide his amusement and gently placed his hand on the small of my back to comfort me. I didn't know if I should have feel mad because he was discreetly mocking me or glad because he was always so supportive. So I turned away and closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down by feeling his hand gently stroking my skin over my shirt.

"Okay." I surrendered with a sight. "let's go then."

Killian looked at me with a little smile and pulled away to start walking next to my father. I held a little bit back from them, trying to take some deep breaths because I was feeling really weird that day.

"Mom, are you okay?" Henry asked, coming to join me, frowning with concern.

"Yeah, why?" I answered absent-mindlessly.

I was lying, obviously. I was feeling really sick. My legs were weak and shaky, and I was feeling dizzy. I just wanted to go home, take a warm bath, go to bed and sleep for weeks. But it was always too much to ask in this town and I was feeling the need to shout because nothing was never quiet around here.

"You don't look so good." Henry insisted, looking at me carefully, and I forced myself to smile and turned my head to glance at him.

"You're saying that because I got a bit mad knowing you wouldn't tell me anything?"

"Yeah, among other things." He admitted with a little wince. "But you seem very tired, and you look like you've lost weight again."

"That's right, you haven't had the chance to live with a broken liver yet." I smiled, feeling my mood getting better as fast as it had worsened earlier. "What can I say, I must have drunk to much rum." I added with a laugh, a bit louder so Killian could hear me.

"Oh, because now it's my fault?" He reacted as I had planned, looking at me in a falsely offended way.

"I didn't say that, I'm just saying that it's unfair, because you've drunk for centuries and you're in perfect health." I defended myself with a playful smile.

Killian looked at me and tried to play mad, but he ended up laughing anyway. I looked at the man I loved for a few more seconds before turning to talk to my son again :

"Don't worry, kid. I'm sorry I got a bit mad, I'm just nervous lately. But I've survived worse. If it was that bad, I wouldn't be here trying to take care of some sort of crisis you won't tell me anything about."

"Well, you're going to know soon" My son said, pointing toward five figures who were standing a few feet ahead of us.

I immediately recognized my mom and Regina from the distance. They were talking with three strangers, two men, and a woman, who were looking particularly worried. I approached them, biting the inside of my cheek, a bit perplexed. They seemed weirdly familiar, but I couldn't say why I was feeling that way because I was sure I hadn't seen them once in my life. For some reason, the fact I was feeling so strange regarding these people was worsening my mood again.

"Ah, here comes Emma." My mom said, seeing me walking toward her with big steps.

"Sorry for the delay." I apologized before turning to look at the strangers and introduce myself. "I'm the Sheriff Emma Swan. I'm just going to ask you a few questions, it's not much but we always do that. Where are you from and how have you gotten here?"

"You don't know who they are?" My son laughed, raising an eyebrow at me. "I can say I'm a bit disappointed in you, mom."

"Huh?" I asked without understanding a word he was saying, turning to look at Killian who shrugged to show me he didn't know what was going on either. "I should know who they are? I've never seen these people in my life!" I added, shaking my head, and seeing that they were looking quite worried, I forced myself to joke : "Please, if you're planning on hurting us, tell us now. It will save us some time. There are cells underneath the hospital, we can lock you up there and never talked about it anymore."

I had thought they would understand I was joking and I had tried to reduce the tension I was feeling in the air, but my try didn't work the way I had expected. Everyone, my family included, was looking at me as if I was coming from another planet. I felt myself blush a little bit. I didn't know what had gotten into me, and I was feeling ashamed because things were feeling awkward now. I coughed to try and give myself some assurance, and I stuck out my chin, trying not to show that I was feeling uncomfortable.

"I suppose it's a joke?" The woman finally asked in a British accent.

She was in her late thirties and had long bushy brown hair. The redhead that was standing beside her rolled his eyes and said while shaking his head :

"Of course it's a joke! Forgive her, she doesn't really get humor."

"Ron!" The woman cried out in an offended way.

"Are you coming from the Enchanted Forest?" I resumed without really paying attention to their words and biting my lower lip, more and more confused about what was happening. "Or from Oz maybe?"

"Oz? The Enchanted Forest?" The woman repeated with a frown. "What are you talking about? Are you mocking us again?

I shook my head and finally realized how the woman had called the man, probably her husband for what I had understood. I frowned, completely lost. A redhead that was quarreling with his wife, it wasn't without reminding me of certain books of my childhood. It was definitely getting weirder and weirder. I finally started talking again, trying to get more information about what was going on.

"Your name is Ron?" I asked, before adding when the guy had nodded. "Well, that's a weird coincidence."

"Why?" The other man asked, talking for the first time since I had arrived.

He had short black hair and round eye glasses. My perplexity transformed into hilarity, probably because things were definitely too weird, and I was starting to think my family was playing a huge joke on me.

"Is this some sort of parody?" I laughed, before regaining seriousness when my eyes met the scar on the dark haired man's forehead.

It was shaped as a lightening bold. My eyes widened, and I felt my lips parted as my dad and Henry were bursting out laughing. What the hell was happening there? My mom and Regina were looking at me, their eyebrows raised, as if they were waiting to see my reaction. Killian, standing next to me, was looking absolutely clueless, thing that was pretty normal because he hadn't grew up in this world. I couldn't believe my eyes. It wasn't possible. It was some sort of big misunderstanding, or my family was playing a big joke on me because they had thought it would give me my smile back as I was feeling down lately. But there had to be an explanation. It couldn't be real. It just couldn't.

"Emma." My dad finally said while laughing "Let me introduce you to Harry, Ron and Hermione. They've arrived here because of a weird event, and we're trying to..."

"No. No, no, no, no." I cut him off, before pinching my forearm to make sure I wasn't dreaming, but it hurt like hell. "You're kidding me right now. It's not possible. You don't exist…"

"Are we supposed to take this the wrong way?" The redhead asked, looking puzzled.

"Come on, Mom, after all this time, you shouldn't be surprised anymore." Henry said, bending over to try and calm down his laughter. "If you could accept the fact you are the daughter of Snow White and prince Charming, you can easily understand this..."

"Don't try to tell me there is a world were Hogwarts is real!" I shouted, utterly confused by what was happening and starting to think maybe I had fallen in some sort of alternate reality were everything was possible.

Even Ingrid had told me that Harry Potter wasn't real! And if I was being honest, the woman was a bit crazy and ready to believe anything. It wasn't real. I was dreaming, or there had to be a good explanation to all this mess. I couldn't accept the fact that my landmarks were crumbling once again. It was too much to take.

"Why are we suddenly talking about fairy tales?" The woman intervened, an eyebrow raised at us in surprise.

"Snow White, Prince Charming." I said absent-mindlessly, showing both of my parents while trying to make sense of all of this.

"No, that can't be right." the redhead said, looking at us as if we were all crazy. "You said your names were David and Mary-Margaret"

"Well, let's just say that's our… common names." My mom answered with an amazing calm. "But we are Snow White and prince Charming. And this is our daughter, Emma."

"Come on, that's ridiculous." The woman said, looking at us with a bit of pity in her eyes. "First, you don't exist..."

"Well, I could tell you the same thing." I replied, crossing my arms, a bit angry by the fact this woman was basically insulting us while she shouldn't have lived elsewhere than in a novel.

"Beside, Snow White doesn't have kids." She resumed, looking at me defiantly.

"I have two." My mom said, nodding, without getting upset by the woman's words.

"Are you kidding me? You look like you're the same age!" The redhead shouted, and I was feeling like we were falling into an endless circles of no one trusting each other.

"That's a long story..." My dad said with a little shrug.

"How do you know who we are?" The man with glasses asked, looking perplexed.

"To be short, you know our stories through books, and it's the same for us." My mom explained with a kind smile. "A best-seller, really. Everyone in this world knows who you are."

I was feeling so lost, and nervously ran a hand through my hair. I couldn't believe the fact the my childhood heroes were really existing, and were standing in front of me right now. They had helped me through difficult times when I was a teenager, but I couldn't believe the fact there was a world somewhere in which there were schools to learn how to use magic, and wands, and all those things. I was feeling my legs getting weaker and weaker and blinked several time to try to stay on my feet. All of this was truly disrupting me. And I was feeling really sick.

"Look." Regina intervened, looking like she was getting a bit impatient. "We can explain everything to you later, but could you tell us how you got here?"

"The problem is we don't know." Harry – I had to get used to call him this way because I was pretty sure it was real now – said with a sight. "We were walking in our village when we saw a green light shinning a few feet ahead of us. We left Lily, my youngest, and Hugo, Ron and Hermione's son, to my wife Ginny and we approached the light to know what was going on. Next thing we know, a green tornado appears from nowhere and here we are."

"A portal." Regina mumbled, biting her thumb's nail and looking really focused. "That's strange..."

"Could you get us back home?" Hermione begged in a desperate tone. "Our children are in our… world as you're saying, and they have no idea what happened to us. James and Albus, Harry's sons, are in Hogwarts, as our daughter Rose. They don't know what's going on. We have to tell them we're all right..."

"Don't worry." Regina assured. "We can use the apprentice's wand to send you back home. But maybe you should stay here for a night. You've had a harsh day, you should get some rest. We will send you back to your world tomorrow morning."

"It's a promise." My mom added, seeing the worried look and our new friends' faces.

I was feeling really bad now. Black spots were blinding me, and a cold sweat was covering my forehead. It was as if what I had just learned was worsening my condition, and I was feeling like I was going to collapse, or throw up, or both. I had a stomach ache, and I looked around me to search for a bench and sit down. My brain was feeling like frozen, and I was moving very slowly. Killian started talking and his voice was sounding a bit distorted :

"Emma, are you all right? You're very pale..."

"You really don't look well." Hermione added in a worried voice.

I couldn't answer anything. I couldn't move anymore. I felt my legs crumbling underneath me, and my head painfully hit the ground. Someone called my name. And then everything went black.

* * *

"Emma?"

"Swan? Can you hear us, love?"

I was regaining consciousness and hardly opened my eyes. My head was hurting and I was feeling sick. People were knelt around me, but I couldn't recognize who they were because of my blurry vision. I pressed my hand against my forehead with a wince and blinked several time, trying to see who were the people surrounding me.

"What happened?" I asked in a husky voice, and I turned my head to see that Killian was looking at me in worry, his hand on my head, his hook pressed against my arm.

"You passed out." My dad answered, looking concerned.

"Do you think you can sit down?" Killian intervened, running his head through my hair and his beautiful face showing so much fear.

I forced myself to give him a small smile, not wanting to worry him even more. I nodded, and he helped me to sit cross-legged on the ground. I took three deep breaths, trying to clear up my head and not throw up, as Killian was gently running his hand up and down my spine. My head was aching because of the fall, and he saw it because he leaned forward to press a kiss on my temple. My dad gave me a bottle of cold water, and I took it with a grateful smile. The drink made me feel better, and calmed my nausea down.

"It's not a surprise you've passed out, you haven't been able to eat anything for days." Killian stated, nervously biting his lower lip.

"Seriously, Emma?" My mom asked, frowning. "It didn't stop?"

I slowly shook my head. I had a weird feeling in my stomach. I pressed my hand against it to try and calmed the thing down. It was scaring me a little bit.

"Do you wanna go to Granny's?" My dad kindly offered. "Maybe a hot cocoa with cinnamon will make you feel better."

"That'd be nice." I said with a small smile. "I think it's the only think that doesn't make me sick, so maybe it's a good idea. I'm sorry guys." I added, looking at my new friends. "I'm not making a good first impression."

I was feeling a bit ashamed about passing out because I was supposed to look strong and reliable, and it wasn't the case. But Hermione gently smiled at me and said :

"Don't apologize. You're not doing it on purpose. The important thing is that you're okay."

"Do you think you can walk, darling?" Hook asked, his hand still on the small of my back. "You're not going to faint?"

"I mean, we can try." I answered with a little sight. "I'm not going to stay here forever."

He nodded and offered me his left arm so I could lean on it while his hand was still on my back. He almost lifted me up, and kept me close to him when I got on my feet, his arm around my waist. My legs were still a bit shaky, but Killian's support was helping me. I smiled to the others to reassure them, and they started walking, but Killian stopped me as I moved to follow them.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

"I have a bit of a headache." I admitted with a little wince. "But I'm fine..."

"Are you kidding me?" He countered, looking a bit annoyed by my words. "Swan, I don't think throwing up three times a day and passing out is called _being fine_ "

"I'm sorry." I apologized, biting my lower lip. "I just don't want you to worry."

'"Of course I'm worrying, love." He sighted, all his gentleness back. "Can you promise me to go see Whale? You can't stay like that. I'm afraid you'll get really sick if we don't do anything."

"I promise. I'll do it as soon as our new friends will be sent home." I answered with a smile, but inside I was completely terrified by what Whale was going to say to me, even if I knew I couldn't wait any longer.

"Good." He said with a little smile before asking with curiosity. "By the way, I was wondering : why did you seem so confused meeting these people?"

"They are the heroes of books I read during my teenage years." I explained, my hand going to his stomach to pull him closer to me. "They are wizards. They are making magic with wands and all of that. I will show you the movies if you want to. You'll see, it's awesome. I was such a fan of these things when I was younger. It's just… Ingrid has told me they didn't exist. It was really surprising."

"What I find surprising is the fact tyou're still amazed by these kind of things. You should be used to it by now." He said with a little smirk, and I laughed, before adding, looking at the others who were now almost out of sight :

"We going?"

He nodded and we started walking, but he kept his arm wrapped around my waist.

"You do know you can let me go, right?" I kindly scoffed. "I can assure you, I still know how to walk."

"Well, I apologize for being scared, princess." He said in a falsely outraged way, and I giggled. "Seriously, I want to make sure you all right. And tell me why would I need an excuse to be close to you?"

I shook my head with a chuckle, and put myself on my tiptoe to kiss him gently. His hand moved up to cup my head, and I smiled. Sure, my health wasn't good these days, and I was living pretty difficult things lately. But I wasn't alone. I had my parents, two beautiful sons, and Killian, and they were helping me beyond words.

* * *

"Everything's good." My dad started, appearing with drinks in his hands, followed by Killian. "We've asked Granny to give you some rooms for tonight, and she agreed. You can sleep in peace."

We were sitting at a table on the diner's patio. The cold wind of March was making me feel better, and was clearing up my mind. Settled in the back of my chair, I wasn't feeling sick anymore, probably because I was off my feet. Hook sat down on the empty seat beside me and put a cup of hot cocoa in front of me.

"Thanks." I whispered with a little smile, and he briefly put his hand on my thigh.

"Now that everything is okay, could you explain us what the hell is going on in this town?" Ron asked with a big smile full of curiosity.

"Well, it's not that complicated." My mom started

"Well, it's actually really complicated." Henry intervened and I laughed quietly. "But go on."

"Emma is our daughter." My mom said with a smile. "David and I also have a son, Neal, who is three and a half. Emma has two kids : Henry here and Liam, who is two and who is Hook's son."

"As in Captain Hook?" Hermione asked with surprise.

"So you've heard of me." He replied with a smirk, repeating the words he had told me all those years ago.

"You're going to say that every single time, aren't you?" I kindly scoffed.

Killian turned back to me with a falsely outraged look. He softly elbowed me in the ribs, and I burst out laughing at his reaction.

"Regina is Henry's adoptive mother." My mom resumed. "Emma was really young when she gave birth to him, and she gave him up for adoption to give him his best chance."

I smiled at her above my mug. I was grateful about her not telling them the entire story, because we were barely knowing each other. My mom grinned back at me before continuing :

"But Regina is also my step-mother..."

"Wait" Hermione cut her of with her eyes widened. "By step-mother, you mean she's… The Evil Queen?"

"Thanks a lot." Regina jeered, rolling her eyes.

"She's not anymore." I intervened, deciding to help her. "She's a hero now. She even found love with Robin Hood..."

"Thanks for revealing my private life, Swan." Regina sighted, and I tried to hide my laugh by biting my lower lip.

"My pleasure." I replied with an innocent smile, and Killian laughed next to me

"Regina cursed the Dark curse 34 years ago, and that's what brought us to this world." My mom explained. "We forgot who we were and the time stopped for 28 years. We had to give Emma up so she could save us. And she did with the help of Henry, and here we are now. That's why we look like we're the same age. David and I were stuck in time for 28 years while Emma grew up in this world and she aged normally."

"Not complicated, you were saying?" Harry said, raising his eyebrow, and we all chuckled.

"It's a lot more twisted than that, believe me, we're sparing you the details." I said with a little smile.

"We can tell our story too, it's a lot less complicated." Ron offered.

"You don't have too, I know everything" I said, before adding after seeing they surprised faces. "What? I was a fan of the books and the movies when I was a teen."

"Really?" Hermione said in a curious tone.

"Yeah, if we have time, I can show you parts of the movie. I can lend you the books too, if you're interested."

"That could be interesting." Hermione answered in a dreamer look.

"Right, a book you haven't read yet, we all find that extremely perplexing." Ron said with half a smile on his face.

"Very funny, Ron."

I laughed before drinking a sip of my hot cocoa. It was a bit weird it was the only thing that wasn't making me sick, but I certainly wasn't complaining. It had the advantage of warming me up and I had at least something in my stomach, even if it had nothing to do with a full meal.

Suddenly feeling as if someone was watching me, I turned my head and noticed that Killian was looking at me with worry in his eyes. I knew he was extremely concerned about me. But I didn't want him to feel bad. It was because of that, among other things, that I didn't want to believe the idea I had for days now and that was explaining all of my symptoms.

I smiled at Killian and sought for his hand under the table. Our fingers intertwined together in a gentle gesture. We had managed to keep our moments after Liam's birth. My mom was baby-sitting our son once or twice a month to give us free evenings to spend just the both of us. I was my best-self with Killian, I was without barrier, and without masks, and I was trusting him more than anyone in my life.

I squeezed his fingers between mine and had to resist the will to pull him closer to me and kiss him breathlessly.

* * *

 **Here we go! For those who don't know me, I'm a huge fan of Harry Potter, so I'm really happy to write about those characters. this story isn't in the cross-over category because the wizards won't stay in Storybrooke all the time and they'll leave before the end of the fiction. I hope you like this story so far, and see you monday for a new chapter! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

It was late. My hands in the sink, soap foam reaching my wrist as I was doing the dishes, I sighted thinking about the hundreds of things I still needed to do before going to sleep. I just wanted to go to bed and sleep for weeks. I was so exhausted these past few days. I was feeling sick again and my nausea was stronger than ever, so I hadn't eaten with Killian and Liam. It was a bit useless anyway, I would have thrown up again if I had tried to eat anything. I couldn't take it anymore. I was trying to stay positive, but with all the problems I had to face lately, I was really starting to feel down. Big time.

Killian had read his bedtime story to Liam that night. We were telling him tales before bed every night, and I knew he loved these moments very much. But I was still hearing them in the living room, laughing, whereas my son should have been in bed for at least half an hour already. I bit my lower lip, trying to stay calm, but I was so nervous I was feeling like I was going to break something. I wiped off my hands on a towel to go see what was going on with the both of them and why Liam wasn't in bed yet.

I walked into the living room to see Liam bursting out laughing as Killian was tickling him. It was hard to know which one of them was having the most fun. I got a bit annoyed by this vision, because it wasn't the time to play. Our son was supposed to be in bed, and I was annoyed by Killian's irresponsible behavior. I then started talking in an unusual cold voice, and he looked up to look at me.

"It's late. He should be in bed."

"Give me one minute, Swan. We're in the middle of a battle, and I'm winning."

If it had been any other day, I would have smiled seeing this childish side of him, because it was usually making me laugh a lot. But I wasn't in the mood. I knew that if they kept on playing, Liam wouldn't sleep and I really needed some rest. I just wanted to go to bed. I least, when I was asleep, I wasn't throwing up. And I really needed to lay down for a while because I was so exhausted I was feeling like I could collapse at any moment.

"Seriously, Hook, it's useless to read him a bedtime story if it's to play with him afterward. You're getting him excited all over again."

"What?" Killian asked with a frown, stopping his game, surprised by the unusual tone I had just used to talk to him.

"He's not going to sleep, and I'm the one who's going to have to get up and rock him, as always, but I'm exhausted and I just want to go to bed. Why can't you understand that?"

"As always?" He repeated him in an offended way. "Are you kidding me? Swan, you know we're getting up alternately to talk to him when he's not sleeping."

"In theory yeah, but in reality, it's different." I said loudly, feeling as if I was going to get really mad but knowing deep down that I was being unfair to him.

"Look, Swan, I know you're not feeling well right now, and I'm sorry about that." He answered dryly, his jaw clenched in anger. "But you can't tell these kind of things. You know it's not true, I'm taking care of Liam as much as you do. And you probably need something to get mad about because you're in a bad mood, but I can't take it anymore. I'm sick of your mood swings, believe me."

" _You_ 're sick?" I shouted, horribly mad because of his comment. "Really? I'm the one who is throwing up every single day, you're in perfect health! If someone has to be sick of everything, it is me, not you!"

"Well, stop complaining, because if you had gone to see Whale as I'm telling you since day one, you would have gotten better already! But no, you're too bloody stubborn for that!" He cried out, getting really angry as Liam was looking at us with his eyes widened, not used to seeing us arguing. "But it's me who have to live with you and your freaking mood swings, and it's driving me crazy! It's unbearable!"

 _Unbearable?_ The word was ringing inside my brain and seemed to bounce against my skull. I was feeling angry, but also upset by this revelation. I was unbearable for him, then? But I was the one who had to live with my fucking health, not him! I would have wanted to see him in my shoes, see how he would have reacted. He couldn't expect me to stay calm with everything I was living right now! I couldn't believe him and his words. He was usually so sweet with me, and seeing him acting like that was making me want to punch a wall.

"You know what?" I ended up shouting, and he startled. "Screw you!"

I didn't wait for an answer and walked toward the front door. I crossed it, slamming it behind me, and arrived under the porch of our big house. The cold wind seemed to wake me up from my anger, and I suddenly took my head in my hands, realizing that I had been absolutely wrong. I needed to calm down. Things had escalated so quickly, and I was feeling so guilty about what I had said. I didn't know why I had gotten mad like this at him, the man who was always there for me. He was taking care of Liam all the time. He was supporting me every day, and what I had said was awful. He had been right to get mad, because I had been unfair, even if his words had hurt me. The truth was I was so nervous I had needed to get mad about something, but Killian wasn't deserving this kind of treatment. He hadn't done anything wrong, and I had yelled at him for no reason. I was hating myself for acting that way.

I sat down on the stairs, my elbows on my knees, too weak to be able to stay on my feet. It was cold, I was shaking because I was only wearing a t-shirt and leggings, but I didn't care. I was only thinking about how unfair I had been. I had to go and apologize to Killian. I didn't know how much time he could bear with my mood. He had said pretty harsh things as well, but he was only right. He was always so patient with me, because I knew I could be a real bitch these past few weeks. And it was awful I had got mad at him, him who was always there for me, who had never let me down. He was amazing, and he was deserving so much better than a crazy lady yelling at him like that. I sighted, deciding that I would go and talk to him when I would be calmed down. I didn't want to create another argument, and I was still feeling the adrenaline running in my veins.

"It's time to go to sleep now, Liam"

Killian's voice made me startle. I turned my head to see where it was coming from, but he wasn't under the porch with me. I needed a few more seconds to realize that Liam's baby phone was hanging at my belt, and that I was hearing Killian talking from our son's room. I took the device in my hand and squeezed it tight to hear what he was saying. Hearing his voice was comforting me for some reason. My heart was already starting to pound slower in my chest.

"Mommy is comming to say night-night too?" My little boy asked, and I couldn't help but smile a bit.

"No, she isn't, little mate." Killian said gently. "Not tonight. Mommy is sick, so you have to be a good boy and sleep well, okay?"

"Okay. Night, Daddy."

"Good night, Liam"

I didn't hear anything for a little while and ended up placing the baby-phone back at my belt. I took my face in my hands again, trying to clear up my mind. I tried to think about what Killian had said during our argument. He was right about everything. I had to go see Whale, I knew it, and it was my fault if I was feeling so bad because I didn't want to go and see a doctor. I had to know what was going on with me. We couldn't go like that forever. But I was so scared about what he was going to tell me, so I was always postponing the appointment as if it was going to solve my problem. But I had to face my fear. I couldn't live like that anymore. I needed answers, it was getting really urgent.

I suddenly heard the front door opening behind my back, but I didn't look up right away, trying to look calm and well. I felt someone sitting down beside me, and finally looked up to glance at Killian. I felt myself blush because I was so ashamed about what had happened. He didn't say a word and gave me one of the two cups he was holding in his hand. I took it with a slight smile. I didn't know what to do to make him understand how sorry I was.

The quiet filled the space for a few seconds. I finally decided to talk, wanting to arrange things between us because I loved him so much and I couldn't bear the fact he was mad at me.

"I'm so sorry..."

He shrugged, and I moved to lean against the column behind me. I bent my legs and put them against my chest, placing my hot mug on my knees. He was staring at the emptiness in front of him, as if he was lost in his thoughts. He was looking a bit shocked by our sudden argument. But he had come to talk to me anyway. He wanted us to make up, and I was accepting his silence. I just wanted to apologize, I wanted him to forgive me.

"I really am, Killian." I resumed in a low voice as he was turning to finally look at me. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what has gotten into me. I don't know why I'm like that lately. I'm nervous, but it's not an excuse, I shouldn't have said that because it was so unfair. You're amazing. You're always there for me, and I don't know how you manage to bear with me because sometimes I wanna punch myself. I'm sorry about what I have said..."

"Don't say that." He cut me off gently, smiling at me to show me he wasn't mad anymore. "You're not unbearable. I'm sorry about what I've said too. I didn't think a word of it."

"You were right to get mad." I said in a whisper, not knowing how to tell him how sorry I was. "I didn't have the right to talk to you like that. Can you forgive me?"

"Of course I can, Swan" He said with a little laugh. "It wasn't that bad. You're already forgiven, I can't stay mad at you, you know that. And I understand, you know. I would be nervous too if I was throwing up three times a day and fainting without notice."

I briefly closed my eyes and smiled a little bit, happy to see that he wasn't that mad about my awful behavior. We were sometimes quarreling about silly stuffs, but it had been a long time since we had yelled at each other like that. I finally opened my eyes after a few more seconds and ended up saying :

"God, Killian, we're sounding like an old married couple."

"An old engaged couple." He corrected with a smirk, pointing at the ring he had given me two years ago and that I was wearing at my left hand. "and I think we're doing well with a little kid at home. Some couples are arguing all the time."

"Liam is a real angel, it's not complicated." I replied with a smile.

"You're right. Can you promise me to go see Whale as soon as possible, love?" He added, changing the subject after a few seconds of silence. "You can't go on like that. Not eating is really not good. I can't stand seeing you putting yourself in danger like that. I'm worried, you know. I don't want something to happen to you."

"I know." I said with a nod. "I promise. And I'm really sorry, babe."

"Stop apologizing, darling, it's okay." He said with a comforting smile, before moving to wrap his arm around me. "Come here."

I snuggled against his chest with a little smile, the hand that wasn't holding the mug on his stomach. He kissed my temple and gently stroked my back before saying with laughter in his voice :

"Well, Emma Swan, you're lucky I love you because you're driving me crazy sometimes."

"I could say the same thing about you." I laughed, before moving to kiss his collar bone.

He wrapped his second arm around me to hold me closer to him and gently kissed my forehead while I smiled. I lifted up my mug to take a sip of my hot cocoa with cinnamon, but I got cut off by my phone that started to ring. Triggered, I put the cup on the stair beside me and saw that it was Regina who was calling me. I bit the inside of my cheek. I could tell something bad was happening. She would never have called me this late if everything was all right. I felt my heart started to pound faster in my chest at the idea of something bad happening to Henry, who was sleeping at Regina's that night. I shared a worried look with Killian, who kissed me again to reassure me, and picked up the phone :

"Yeah?" I asked in a somewhat shaky voice.

"We have a problem." Regina's voice answered, and I put the phone on speaker mode so Killian could hear our conversation more easily.

"What's happening?"

"The apprentice's wand is missing." She said in a low voice.

I let out a puff of air, only realizing that I had stopped breathing because of how worried I was. Killian sighted next to me, relieved as well, and gently stroke my back. It was only that. I had been so scared my son was in danger, but he was probably sleeping in his bed right now and everything was okay. I wasn't worried about the loss of the wand. We were going to find it soon enough. We had survived much worse.

"You've looked everywhere?" I asked with a little sight.

"Who do you think I am, Swan?" She barked, sounding really mad at me about my comment. "Of course I've looked everywhere or I wouldn't have called you! It disappeared, and without it we're screwed."

"Come on, Regina, calm down." I sighted, exhausted by her screams. "Who the hell would want to steal this wand?"

"I don't know, Swan, but if you could help me instead of doubting me, that would be nice." She said in an annoyed tone. "we have three people out there trusting us, and we've promised them we would send them back home, in case you've forgotten. Without the wand, we can't do anything to help them."

"Look." I said, rubbing my eyes with the feeling I was going to fall asleep right there. "It's late, you should get some sleep. Maybe you'll remember where you've put it during the night. I promise you that if you haven't found it tomorrow, I'll come and help you search for it. Tell me what happened tomorrow morning."

"Thanks for your precious help." She jeered of, and I sighted once more, a bit annoyed by her behavior.

"Let's be honest here, I'm not useful right now." I said with fatigue. "I don't know how I could help you if this damn wand is lost. Let me rest for a night, and I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, right. See you tomorrow." She snapped before hanging up without waiting for an answer.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. She could be really nice, but she could also be a pain in the ass, and I wasn't in the mood. I put the phone back in my jeans with a sight before mumbling to Killian :

"I can't believe her right now. Why is she always yelling at me?"

"Don't worry about her, you don't have to listen to her." He comforted me with a little smile. "I wouldn't have let you go anyway, you need to rest." He added, and I giggled at his comment. "Come on, let's go inside. You're shaking. You can't get a cold, you're already sick."

I smiled at him, and he pulled away to get up, reaching for my hand to help me get on my feet. Our fingers together, we walked inside the house as I was dreaming about finally being in my bed.

* * *

 _Darkness, fire and cries of pain. I look around me, terrified. I don't know how I got here. The hot wind is making my hair fly and is caressing my face in an unpleasant way. I can feel the fear of the deads, and my stomach is hurting. I'm back in the underworld._

 _But I'm terrified for a good reason. My heart is painfully pounding in my chest. Because I look around me, but Killian isn't there. He's missing._

" _Emma?"_

 _His unusually husky voice makes me turn back. I gasp. He's there, in front of me. He's hurt, he's dying. He's crying from the pain. He's burnt everywhere, he's barely standing on his feet. His hand is pressed against his stomach, one of his eye is closed. And I can't do anything to help him._

" _Killian." I whisper in a muffled voice._

 _I let go of a sob. I reach for him, but he's disappearing. He's leaving me._

" _No, stay! Please don't go! I… I can help you… Please! Killian! Don't leave me!"_

" _It's too late, Emma, I'm already dead..."_

" _I love you so much." I sob, not knowing what to do._

" _I love you too."_

 _He huge flame appears right where he's standing. He screams in pain. I call his name, but he isn't answering. When the flame disappears, he is gone._

" _Killian!" I yell, my voice ringing into the quiet._

* * *

\- Killian!

I didn't even open my eyes, and my hand took off to fell beside me on the bed. My nails sank into Killian's forearm without me even thinking about what I was doing.

When I realized that it had all been a dream, I quickly moved my hand and pressed it against my stomach, hoping that I hadn't woken him up. My hair was drenched because of a cold sweat. I was shaking and tears were streaming down my face. I tried to calm down a bit. It was only a dream. A dream I was making so often since he had come back from the Underworld. It always seemed so real, and I always had to make sure he wasn't gone.

I pressed my other hand against my forehead, trying to slow my breathing down. I felt Killian moving beside me and understood I had awakened him. I bit my lower lip, feeling guilty and trying to hold back my sobs.

"Are you okay, love?" He whispered, taking my hand. "You had a nightmare again?"

I nodded slowly. I was unable to stop crying. It was too much. I couldn't lose him. I loved him way too much for that.

Killian didn't wait another second and took me into his arms. He held me tight as if he was trying to show me he wasn't going anywhere. I buried my face into the crook of his neck, still crying, trying to make sure he was there. He kissed my hair, trying to calm me down. His familiar and comforting smell made me feel a bit better. He was beside me. He was alive. He was not dying again.

"It's okay, darling, I'm here." He said in a broken voice, stroking my hair, knowing all to well what I had dreamed about.

"I thought I'd lost you." I sobbed, holding his naked back to get even closer to him.

"Shh, sweetheart, you're not losing me. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying with you. I love you."

He kept on rocking me against him, kissing me and whispering comforting words in my ear for what seemed like an eternity until I had finally fallen back asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**thanks a lot to oncer4life11 and Emilee Amethyst for the reviews! **

* * *

"That can't be right, it has to be somewhere!" I cried out, getting very impatient and putting both of my hands on my hips with a frustrated sight.

"Sure, but where?" My dad added, frowning and looking deeply focused.

"Do you think someone could have stolen it?" My mom asked to Regina.

She was standing crossed arms next to Robin and was looking deeply mad because of the situation. We had arrived at their place early in the morning to talk with them about the wand as it was still missing. The kids were playing together in the living room, not aware of what was happening, and Henry was watching them. We were all horribly worried. It was not only meaning that someone could have stolen the wands and in that case there was a new villain in town, but we were also realizing we couldn't keep our promise made to the wizards. Sure, there were others way to cross realms. But the wand was our only solution as there were no magic beans left in this world and everything that would have allowed us to open a portal was gone by a way or another. We had to find the damn wand. There was no other choice. And we had to do it very quickly because we had to send Hermione, Ron and Harry back to their world the sooner possible.

"I don't see another reason why it would be missing!" Regina shouted, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "It's gone for a reason, and I certainly haven't lost it!"

"But Regina." I intervened, myself a bit annoyed by the situation and the sleep deprivation. "It's impossible. We don't have any enemies left in this town. Zelena is in Oz, Gold is gone for years, and nobody seems to be mad at us for some reason. I don't see who would have taken this fucking wand."

"Right, Miss Swan, but if you're so clever, why haven't you thought about the fact our three new _friends_ could not be who they said they were? They can be villains, we don't know anything about them." Regina jeered.

"Well that's stupid!" I replied, chuckling and I saw her jaw clenching at my comment. "First of all, they don't know where you're living. Secondly, we would have given them the wand anyway, it's absolutely useless to steal it. Beside, they are nice. They are heroes. They fought for the greater good. They don't steal."

"Well, you were supposed to be nice too, _Savior_ , and look where it has lead us not so long ago!" She snapped, referring to my days as a Dark One, and I had to force myself to stay calm and not start yelling.

"You… Don't start on this!" I shouted, utterly mad and stepping forward, ready to fight and show her she had no right to talk to me that way.

Killian grabbed my elbow to prevent me from doing a big mistake as I was feeling the anger exploding inside of me. I knew I would have punched her if Hook hadn't held me back. How dared she still reproaching me what had happened years ago ? My time as a Dark One was a part of my life I wasn't proud of, and she was always talking about it every time she was finding me annoying, as if it was amusing her. I just wanted to slap her and show her how mad I was. But, even if I knew he was as angry as I was, Killian was still holding my arm to prevent me from punching Regina. Seeing that we were both ready to fight, my dad intervened and stood up between us, his hand lifted up as a cry for peace.

"Okay, everybody calm down." He said in a serious way. "You're both tired, I know, but stop getting mad at each other. Regina, seriously what you said was horribly cruel, and you know it. Stop talking about Emma's past. What's done is done, and you know all too well she doesn't like it. Stop pushing her to the edge."

My breathing had gotten faster because of the anger. I freed myself from Killian's grip, and he didn't try to fight back because he knew it wouldn't help me. I could hear him behind me, and I knew he himself wanted to yell at Regina but he was trying to calm himself down in order not to worsen the situation. He would usually have encouraged me to go and defend myself, but I knew why he had stopped me : he was scared my health would get even worse if I was doing anything. Every time I was trying to make efforts, it was ending up with me throwing up or fainting and it wasn't worth it. I looked at Regina with pure hate in my eyes, clenching my fist to try and calm down a little bit.

"You're right." Regina said with a sight, looking like she was finally getting how horrible she had been with me. "Sorry, Swan. I shouldn't have said that. Especially because I've done much more terrible things than you, and everyone has forgiven me."

I didn't answer right away. I was still really mad at her. But I finally decided it was better for everyone if I was staying calm. The situation was already way too complicated like that without me and Regina fighting over words. I ended up saying with a roll of my eyes, crossing my arms on my chest to show her that even if I wasn't going to do anything to defend myself, I was still angry.

"'S okay."

The situation had gotten out of hand, and it was better if we both stopped fighting. I knew that I would have jumped at her throat if Killian hadn't held me back, and it would have been a mistake even if she was deserving it. What she had said was awful, but I frowned thinking that I was getting mad very easily these past few days. I was usually able to control myself. I stepped back to stand next to Killian and took three deep breaths, trying to slow down my heart that was painfully pounding in my chest. Hook glanced at me to quietly ask me if I was all right, and I nodded in order not to worry him.

"Well, now we have another problem." My dad then said, as if nothing had happened and we were just resuming our previous conversation. "I don't know how we're going to tell Harry, Ron and Hermione we don't have the wand anymore and we can't send them back home."

"And how we're gonna tell them they're not going to see their kids any time soon." I added, biting the inside of my cheek and thinking about how awful the situation was.

* * *

"So you lied to us?!" Hermione shouted, looking utterly mad about what we had just told her.

"It wasn't a lie." My mom tempered gently. "We're doing everything we can to find the wand. David, Killian and Robin are searching around the town at this exact same moment. It has to be somewhere."

"I can't believe we're stuck here!" She cried out, before jumping out of the booth and running out of the diner.

"Hermione!" Ron shouted before following her, imitated by Harry.

Regina, my mom and I were sitting at a booth at Granny's, and we looked at each other with despair. The wizards were obviously very angry because of the news, and I could understand how they were feeling quite easily. I would have screamed too if I had been separated from my family. At the thought of being away from my sons or Killian, I shivered and forced myself to think about something else in order not to get sad. I was feeling genuinely bad for Harry, Ron and Hermione. They hadn't asked for any of this, and they were now stuck in a town they didn't know, with people they had just met, far from their home and their kids who didn't even know if they were alive. The situation was really bad. I felt a rush of anxiety taking over me, and forced myself to calm down a little bit.

"I'm going to talk to them." My mom decided, getting up from her seat and going outside to comfort our new friends.

I sighted and repositioned Liam on my lap. I had both of my arms wrapped around him and he was cuddled against my chest. He was quiet, his thumb in his mouth and he was dozing off. Neal, Robyn and Roland were playing together in a corner of the diner, carefully watched by Granny and Henry.

I was feeling really sick. The lack of food and the stress were making me very weak. I was so worried about the missing wand. I just wanted to help the wizards the best I could, but we were stuck. And it was without talking about the smell of cooked meat that was reigning in the room and was making me extremely nauseous. I looked up at Regina but didn't say a word, my jaw clenched. I was still mad at her because of what she had said earlier, and I was doing my best to appear calm in front of Liam and Henry while I just wanted to get up and walk away from her. I was so pissed off I didn't even want to see her face anymore.

"Don't look at me like that, Swan." She said while raising her eyebrows at me.

"Like what?" I mumbled, gently stroking Liam's back.

"You know how." She answered, rolling her eyes. "You're still mad at me. I told you I was sorry!"

"I know." I sighted with fatigue, knowing that she had apologized and that I should have forgotten about the altercation. "I guess we're even now."

"What do you mean?" She asked with a frown.

"I would probably have punched you if Killian hadn't stopped me." I admitted with a shrug.

"Well, at least the pirate was useful for once."

"I know you're not thinking a word of this." I answered, a bit annoyed by her comment because Killian was always a great help for all of us when we were facing a crisis. "You're absolutely wrong. And if you could avoid telling such things in front of Liam, I would appreciate it."

She didn't say anything back and Granny approached our table with a cheeseburger she placed in front of Regina. My friend thanked her and I winced. The smell was making me feel even sicker. My stomach was hurting like hell and I was starting to get dizzy.

"Can you take that away from me?" I asked the calmest way possible to avoid her starting to ask me embarrassing questions.

"You can't stand smells either?" She answered without paying attention to my request, and I took a deep breath to try and calm myself down.

"Especially cooked meat. This is killing me. Regina, please." I whimpered, feeling like I was going to throw up.

"You're vomiting, you're fainting, you're bothered by smells… Are you hiding something from us, Swan?" She asked, pressing her lips together as she was starting to suspect something.

"Regina..." I whispered in an almost begging way, aware that if she wasn't listening to me I would throw up once again.

"I won't move this plate until you tell me what's really going on with you." She stated defiantly.

I grunted. I couldn't take this anymore. I had to do something. I was so mad at her for not listening to me, but I couldn't even get angry because I was feeling way too weak.

"In that case, I'm moving." I said, a bit aggressively. "Watch Liam."

I placed my son on the seat next to me. He woke up and stared at me with surprise but also worry. I wanted to smile to reassure him, but didn't even find the strength to do so.

"I'm not your baby-sitter!" Regina yelled behind me.

I didn't react to her provocation. I had barely heard her, actually. I almost ran toward the bathroom, trying to stay on my feet and not drawing to much attention on me.

* * *

I came back ten minutes later and almost collapsed on my seat with a sight, taking Liam in my arms again to comfort him as he was still looking a bit confused by my sudden disappearance. Regina was looking at me in a worried and somewhat guilty way. Biting her lips, she was finally looking bad about what she had done. She ended up saying after a few seconds, aware that without her I wouldn't have thrown up again.

"You okay?"

"I've lived better, really." I mumbled, mad at her for being so stubborn.

"I'm sorry..." She apologized with a little wince.

"You can be." I replied, rolling my eyes. "If you had listened to me, I would probably have kept the breakfast Killian has almost forced me to swallow, and it would have been a good thing for me to have something in my damn stomach for once."

She frowned, then her expression changed. She didn't seem to feel guilty anymore. Sitting straight on her seat, she was looking very confident, and I bit the inside of my cheek, knowing all to well what was going to happen.

"Well, enough beating around the bush. Given your symptoms, I think you know all too well what's going on with your body. And don't try to play dumb with me and pretend you have no idea what I'm talking about." She added as I moved to defend myself.

I closed my mouth and sighted deeply. I couldn't lie to her anymore. She knew something was wrong with me, and doing as if everything was normal was only going to worsen the situation. She wouldn't let me be unless I talked to her. I leaned forward to kiss Liam's forehead and forced myself to smile before saying :

"Liam, sweetheart, can you go and play with your friends? Mommy has to talk with Regina about grown-up things."

"Okay." My son answered in a low voice.

He was looking at me as if he was guessing that something was off. He was only two, but this little guy was definitely really smart. I put him on the ground and looked at him walking away until I was sure he couldn't hear us anymore. I turned back to Regina but didn't start talking. I didn't know what to say. My friend ended up shouting in an annoyed way after a few seconds of silence:

"Come on, Swan, it's not that complicated! Are you pregnant or not?"

"Shush!" I said, my eyes widened and looking all around me to make sure no one had heard her. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't alert the entire United States!"

"And? What's your answer?" She insisted without paying attention to what I had just said.

"Well I don't know." I admitted, rolling my eyes, annoyed by the fact she was refusing to leave me alone.

"What?" She asked in disbelief. "But you have all the symptoms! Haven't you done a pregnancy test?"

I looked down at the table, a bit ashamed. I felt myself blush, because I knew she was right to look that shocked. I had begun to think that my condition could be hiding a pregnancy as soon as I had started to get sick. But I was feeling unable to go to the doctor or buy a pregnancy test to know the truth. I was so damn scared. I had this weird feeling that if I was doing as if everything was okay, everything would fall into place. But I couldn't play pretend anymore. Regina knew, and she wouldn't leave me alone. My pitiful strategy was useless now. I sighted once again before answering, knowing that Regina was going to get mad again. But this time it was different because she was right.

"No"

"Why the hell would you stay like that without knowing the truth?" She asked, looking at me as if I was a perfect idiot.

"Because it's… Because I'm scared, Regina." I admitted in a low voice, trying to stay calm but feeling as if my entire world was falling apart.

"Well, that's not a very good point." She stated. "You're doing like everything is okay because you're afraid? You know it's perfectly ridiculous, right? And what does Hook think about all of this?"

"He doesn't know." I confessed, wincing, knowing that she was going to call me an idiot again.

And I knew she had the right to do so, because I was behaving like one. I hated myself for fleeing from my troubles like that. But I was so scared. And it was the only thing I had found to calm my fear down. But I knew she was absolutely right. If I was pregnant I had to learn about it sooner or later. I couldn't stay in the dark forever.

"Oh" She said, raising her eyebrows. "Are there troubles in paradise?"

"No. No, there aren't!" I repeated, seeing that she was looking a bit skeptic. "It's just that I don't know if I'm pregnant. It was useless to talk to him."

"Useless?" She said, shaking her head in disbelief. "Seriously, Swan? You're living together. He's the father of Liam, and if there is a new baby, he has the right to know. You can't hide that from him"

"It's just… I don't want to worry him." I whispered with the sudden will to punch myself because I knew I was being stupid.

"What the hell, Swan, really?" She sighted, looking desperate by my behavior. "Sometimes, you're being as stupid as your mother."

"Why is she as stupid as me?"

I startled. I hadn't seen my mom walking back into the diner, and I violently bit my lower lip. She was going to ask us what was going now, and she wasn't going to give up until I had told her everything. It was only going to worsen things. She sat down next to Regina and looked at us with curiosity, waiting for an answer. I started to talk hastily to create a diversion, hoping it would work and I would be left alone as I wanted to :

"Have you talked with Hermione?"

I noticed the look of annoyance Regina was giving me, and stared at her defiantly. I knew she was right to treat me like an idiot because in that case I was being one. But I was certainly not going to let her talk to me like that without reacting. I was too proud to let her do those kind of things without protesting.

"I have, I've explained her what was really going on, and she calmed down. I've told her everything would be okay. We're going to find this wand eventually, it can't be that far. But you haven't answered." She added, and I sighted in despair seeing that my try hadn't worked. "Why is Emma an idiot?"

"Your daughter's pregnant." Regina stated as if everything was normal.

I opened my mouth, not believing that she had really said that. It was probably to punish me for my stupidity because she had a small smile on her face, but it was so mean I didn't know how to react. I grunted when I saw my mom turning to stare at me, looking overexcited. If I wasn't able to calm her down really quickly, she would tell the entire town and I had to stop this.

"Really, honey? Oh my god, it's wonderful, I..."

"Shush!" I shouted once again, seeing a few of our friends turning to look at us because of the noise we were making. "I don't know if I am pregnant, okay? I haven't done a test yet."

"That's why she's a prefect idiot." Regina stated, rolling her eyes once again. "And also because she doesn't want to tell Hook she thinks she's pregnant."

"But why?" My mom asked, smiling as if the situation was very funny while I just wanted to hide in a corner and never get out. "You do know that if you're pregnant, he'll end up noticing it, right?

"I don't want to tell him while I'm not sure yet." I sighted.

"Well, do a test, then!" My mom said, but it was easier said than done.

"Yeah, sure, I don't want to tell anything to Killian but I'm going to go to the drugstore and ask for a pregnancy test as if everything was perfectly normal." I replied with a chuckle, trying to find an excuse to escape from this situation a little bit longer. "You know the town will be aware of what's happening in less than an hour. If I'm pregnant, Killian has to know before anyone else. Beside, it's really not a good time. There is a crisis right now and..."

"Well, in that case, I'll go get it for you." My mom cut me off with a big smile, looking so happy as she was breaking my last hope to deny the situation a while longer. "I don't care about people saying I can be pregnant. The rumor will be denied really soon anyway."

"Mom..." I whimpered, wondering why I couldn't take my own decisions but knowing deep down that she was doing it for my own good.

I would have wanted to resume on denying what was happening. I didn't want to face the possibility of me being pregnant. But with my family, it was impossible to stay in the dark. However, I knew my mom and Regina were right. If I was expecting, I had to know about it. The potential new baby was deserving its mother to know about its existence. But I was so damn scared. I loved Henry and Liam beyond words, and there were enough. Two kids were enough. I was sometimes feeling like I was going to break down with only one little kid at home, I knew I couldn't get by with a third child on the way. I wanted to give all my attention to my sons. And the crisis we were living with the three wizards could last longer than expected. And then there was Killian. I knew he wouldn't react badly. He would probably be really happy, by seeing how he had reacted when I had told him I was pregnant with Liam, it wasn't hard to guess. But we had never talked about having more kids. And I was so scared about everything changing in our life. I was happy with how things were now. I didn't want anything to be different. It was terrifying, and I hated this possibility.

"So, what do you think?" my mom asked, driving me away from my thoughts.

"You won't leave me alone until I'v done this damn test, right?" I sighted with despair.

They both shook their head with a little smile, and I crossed my arms on my chest, knowing all to well that I couldn't go back from this.

"Okay, then. Go." I finally said.

My mom almost jumped off her seat, a big smile on her face, and she walked away from us. I looked at her crossing the diner's door and disappearing in the street. And then I took my head in my hands, suddenly wanting to cry because everything was crumbling around me.

* * *

 **Here we go, you'll know if Emma is really pregnant in the next chapter! :) See you monday!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks to Emilee Amethyst, Lilybean2004 and oncer4life11 for the reviews! :)**

* * *

My mom came back ten minutes later, and she sat back down in front of me with a concerned look on her face. I sighted, seeing her so worried, but she also seemed a bit excited. Regina and I hadn't said a word since my mom had walked away to go to the drugstore, and I was grateful my friend was respecting my silence for once. I had needed some time to get used to the idea I was going to know the truth really soon. It was hard. After trying to escape the situation for weeks, I was forced to admit I had miserably failed. I now had to face the possibility of a new pregnancy, and I didn't know how to react. I was feeling a bit guilty for trying to run away for so long, actually, but I was blaming my mom and Regina for not minding their own business. I was a big girl, and my health was only concerning me and Killian. They had no right to walk into my life like that. But I also knew deep down that they were right. They were doing that for my own good, to teach me that I had to face the problem and that I couldn't keep on running away from this. So I didn't even think about getting mad at them. I was aware that I was the one behaving like a perfect idiot by pretending everything was okay.

My mom stared at me for a few seconds as if she wanted to make sure I was all right. I didn't even try to smile and pretend like I was doing okay, because I was feeling really bad. My right elbow on the table and my hand on my forehead, I was feeling like my heart was going to explode because of my anxiety. It was pounding so fast in my chest I was afraid it was going to break my ribs.

Nobody said anything, probably in order not to make me feel worse. My mom discreetly handed me a paper bag under the table, looking all around her to make sure no one else was noticing what we were doing. Despite my fear, I liked the fact they were respecting my choice to keep quiet about this until I was sure I was pregnant. Feeling the touch of the bag against my skin, I sighted once again and took it in my hand. I closed my eyes for a second, trying to give me some strength. I could do it. I had no choice anyway, I had to face my fears.

"I feel like we're doing a drug trade." I mumbled in a low voice, trying to give me some confidence.

"So, you going?" My mom said after a few seconds, ignoring my comment and looking at me with her eyebrows raised.

"What, you want me to go here?" I asked, perplexed, not believing she was actually wanting me to do a pregnancy test in the bathroom of the diner. "I'll wait to be home for that."

"Do you think we're idiots, Swan?" Regina cut me off, looking at me in an annoyed way. "We know you're not going to do the test if we let you go home."

I sighted loudly and rolled my eyes, but didn't answer anything. I knew she wasn't wrong about that. I hadn't really thought about this possibility, but it was highly probable that without anyone pushing me to get some answers, I would have thrown the test in the first trash can on my way and would have pretended everything was perfectly normal. My last way out was closing before my eyes, and my stomach suddenly started to hurt really bad because of the fear. I now had to face this possible pregnancy, my mom and Regina weren't giving me a choice. It was terrifying. I wasn't ready. But I couldn't get away from this.

After a few more seconds during which I tried to give myself some courage to get up and do this damn test, I finally got off my seat to head for the bathroom. I looked at my mom and Regina with pure annoyance before walking away from them. I knew they were right, but I hated to feel forced to do something, especially when I was scared.

I walked toward bathroom with somewhat shaky steps. The bag hidden in my hand, I was trying but failing to control my entire body that was shaking almost painfully. I forced myself to look normal in order not to draw attention on me, but it was so hard I was feeling like I could collapse any moment. Once in the bathroom, I locked the door behind me to make sure no one was coming to find me in the middle of a panic attack. I started pacing in the little room, walking nervously between the sink and the toilets. I had to find the courage to do this fucking test. I had to be strong, and I had to know what was happening. If I was really pregnant, I was going to find out soon enough anyway. Women had to take precautions when they were expecting, and I couldn't do as if everything was okay for much longer. This possible baby had nothing to do with all of this. It was deserving to be treated carefully.

 _Come on, girl! It can't be that hard!_

I had managed alone for years. I had fought against villains, I had survived being the Dark one and I had come back from the Underworld. I had lived things a lot more serious and dangerous than this. I wasn't getting why this test was feeling like the most difficult thing I'd ever had to do in my entire life. My feelings were ridiculous, I knew it. I had given birth to a kid at 17 while I was in jail. I was raising a little boy with Killian for two years, and everything was going more than fine. I had a family, a man I loved, wonderful children who were a living proof I wasn't such a bad mom. But the truth was I wasn't ready to have another kid. I didn't want to live another pregnancy and raise another child. Two were enough. I was terrified.

After a few more minutes spent at trying to hold back the cry of fear that was obstructing my throat, I finally got the test out of the back and realized my hand was shaking. I was forced to notice that I had failed to calm down and that I was still horribly nervous. The test in my hand, I leaned against the closest wall for a little bit, trying to breathe slowly in order not to collapse. I looked at the little item in my hand, as if it was going to jump at my throat. I was wondering if it was going to reassure me or make my entire world crumble once again. But I had to know. Even if it was horrifying.

* * *

I sat back down in front of my mom and Regina. My gestures were a bit jerky. I was feeling really dizzy, and was not sure were I was anymore. I didn't know what I was feeling. I wasn't even sure I was feeling something. It was just like a dream, and it felt like I was standing outside of my own body, watching the scene without being able to do anything. But I knew it wasn't a nightmare, what I was living was real. I was feeling empty. Too shocked by what I had just learned, I couldn't even realize what it was really meaning.

"So?" My mom asked in a gentle voice, understanding that I wasn't going to talk if she wasn't pushing me a bit.

I opened my mouth to answer something, but I had a huge lump in my throat and I started coughing, choking on my own tears. And suddenly, without giving me the time to do anything else, I started to sob violently. I immediately hid my face in my hands, too embarrassed to look at my mom. It was as if the dozens of emotions I should have felt when I had learned the news had just hit me all at once, and I couldn't help myself but cry. It was too much. I was so scared, I didn't know what to do anymore. I was feeling so lost. The truth had just hit me like a huge punch in the stomach. My shoulders were shaking because of my sobs and I was trying the best I could not to make too much noise. I didn't want people to start wondering what was happening, but I was feeling like I was drowning in my own tears.

I soon felt someone sitting down beside me in the booth, and my mom gently wrapped her arms around me. I cuddled against her, still crying. Her presence was making me feel a bit better, a bit less scared. Like a little girl, I suddenly needed the arms of my mom to reassure me. I needed her to tell me everything would be okay and I didn't have to worry. I was terrified, the sensation was horrible, and I was feeling as if my guts were being compressed between two plates of burning hot metal. It was feeling like the entire world had just been destroyed and I was alone with my fear. I had become the lonely little girl who was crying after her parents at night in her bed all over again.

"Oh, baby." My mom whispered, gently stroking my hair to try and calm me down, guessing what the test had told me without even asking. "You don't have to be scared, Emma. Calm down, breathe, everything is going to be okay, I promise. You have so many people who love you, you're not alone anymore. We're all here for you. We love you. We're going to help you. Stop crying, honey..."

I needed to hear that kind of things. It made me feel better even if I was still crying. I stayed snuggled in my mom's arms for a long, long time. She was making me feel safe and loved, and I wasn't ready to face the reality of the world again. While I was there, I didn't have to think about anything that was going to happen. Telling Killian and Henry, living another pregnancy, raising another baby. But I ended up hearing a voice asking beside us :

"What's going on?"

I gasped when I recognized Henry's voice. I didn't want him to see me while I was in this horrible state. I was lamentable. He couldn't see me now that I was crying like a little kid. I had to be strong in front of my sons. I looked up, trying to wipe off my wet cheeks, but tears were still streaming down my face. Not managing to seem strong in front of my son actually made me want to cry even more.

"Mom? Are you okay?" Henry said with a worried look, noticing that I was crying.

"She's not feeling well." My mom lied, creating an excuse because she knew I didn't want my son to know what was happening, not now that I was still processing the news. "I'm going to take her outside, some fresh air will make her feel better. Come on, Emma, we're going. Henry, watch the kids while we're gone, okay?"

Noticing that my son seemed unwilling to obey and was still looking at me with a frown, probably wondering what he could do to make me feel better, my mom added :

"Everything is going to be okay, Henry, I promise."

She took my hand and helped me get up, things I couldn't do by myself because I was dizzy and I wasn't seeing clear because of my tears. She squeezed my hand in hers, as if she wanted to make me understand she wasn't going to leave me and I wasn't alone. She started walking, and I let her bring me outside, still crying. Regina got up to follow us, looking very concerned. My mom stopped on the sidewalk in front of the diner. Without thinking, I sat down on the side of the road, my face in my hands. I didn't have the strength to stay on my feet anymore. I was shaking too much, and I was feeling like I was going to pass out again.

A panic attack was coming my way, but I wasn't able to calm myself down. I didn't know what was going to happen now. How I was going to figure things out. I was barely managing with a little boy and a teenager, and they were both literal angels. How would I be able to take care of a third one? I didn't even know how this could have happened. I was under birth control to avoid these kind of things, and I was very careful with them. I knew I hadn't forgotten to take them. I had just been in the unlucky part of women for whom it hadn't worked. I wasn't understanding anything anymore, everything was blurry, I was feeling helpless and I couldn't stop sobbing.

"Emma..." My mom started, sitting beside me on the ground, imitated by Regina who settled next to me. "Why are you crying like that, baby? A pregnancy is usually good news..."

"Except when you haven't planned it." I replied with a little sniff, managing to talk for the first time since I had seen the two little pink sticks on the test. "How am I going to do with another child?"

"But it's going to be fine, you'll see." She said, gently rubbing my back. "You're a wonderful mom, you don't have to be afraid."

"You don't know how it's going to go!" I shouted in a muffled voice. "Liam is only two. Killian and I have never talked about having another baby. I wanna take care of my sons without having to raise another child. Three is too many. I don't know how I'm going to do that. And I have to talk to Killian now..."

"Come on, Emma." Regina intervened in a surprisingly gentle voice. "You know he's going to be happy. You're searching for excuses because you're scared. But he's going to love these news."

I knew she was right. Killian was going to be the happiest man on earth. He was so good with kids, and I was guessing he secretly wanted a big family, even if he had never talked with me about it because he knew I was scared. I was terrified by all these responsibilities. It was just coming naturally for him. I then didn't answer to my friend, and changed the subject because I didn't know what to tell her.

"You won't tell anyone, will you?"

"If it's your choice, we won't" Regina nodded, and I sighted in relief.

"You don't even want me to tell your dad?" My mom asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"I would like to tell Killian first. He should have been the first to know, and I don't want anyone else to learn what's happening before he does. You have to promise me you'll keep the secret until he knows. He's the father. He has the right to know before anyone else."

"I promise, but you should be careful with your mother. She can't keep a secret that well." Regina said, probably to make me smile a little bit but I wasn't in the mood.

"For the hundredth time, I was ten!" My mom shouted, rolling her eyes, and Regina chuckled. "Come on, baby. I promise you it's going to be all right. Stop crying, okay?"

She pulled me close to her again, and I placed my head on her shoulder. I wasn't sobbing anymore, but tears were still streaming down my face. I didn't know what to do, or how I was going to tell Killian. I didn't know how to do anything anymore. I was feeling so lost, and I was still shaking because of my fear.

I suddenly heard my mom gasp, and I looked up to see what was happening and why she was suddenly sounding so surprised. What I saw through my tears made my heart beat even faster, and I rubbed my face to try and wipe off my tears. My dad, Killian and Robin were walking in our direction, even if they didn't seem like they had noticed us yet. I quickly said, trying to calm down because I didn't want them to start asking questions.

"Don't tell Killian now. I wanna talk to him when it's just going to be the two of us."

My mom slowly nodded, looking concerned, but she seemed to understand why I wanted her to keep the secret. Realizing that my eyes were probably bright red and that I was still crying, I hid my face in my hands to give me the time to calm down a little bit. I didn't want Killian to worry too much. I didn't know how to tell him what was happening, but I didn't want it to happen here, on the side of road, while I was in the middle of a panic attack. It was the worst way to tell him he was going to be a dad again. I couldn't do that to him. He was deserving better.

"What are you three doing here?" My dad's voice started above my head, telling me that the three men had finally arrived.

"Just enjoying the weather." Regina shrugged after a little hesitation, and I felt grateful she had listened to me for once and she wasn't going to tell anyone about what I had just found out.

"It's cold." Killian stated, a bit triggered by her answer, before saying in a worried tone : "What's going on here? Swan, you okay?"

I didn't say anything back. I wasn't calm enough to pretend everything was okay while talking to him, and he was going to notice that something was wrong with me. But he seemed to understand something was off anyway. He was quite perceptive, and he knew me better than anyone else. He could always tell when I was feeling down. Not knowing what to answer, I let a little silence fill in the place before he started talking again :

"Emma, look at me."

He had said his sentence in a gentle voice, but I knew he wouldn't accept a denial. Knowing that I had to obey, I looked up and stared at him with tears in my eyes. I saw his eyes widened and his expression changed from inquiring to worried. He knelt on the ground in front of me and placed his hand on my thigh to gently stroke my skin through my jeans.

"What's wrong, darling?"

"I… I..." I stuttered, not knowing what to say.

"She passed out again." My mom improvised, intervening to help me with a surprising confidence.

I glanced at her to quietly thank her, and she nodded with a little smile. Killian looked at me carefully to make sure I was all right. He cupped my cheek and stared at me in the eyes, and I forced myself to smile in order not to worry him. He finally wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a tight embrace. I let go of another sob, grabbing his jacket to pull him a little bit closer to me.

"Oh baby." He said, gently running his hand up and down my spine. "I'm sorry I wasn't there when you collapsed. Was it that bad?"

"I'm fine." I panted, my face buried in the crook of his neck. "I'm sorry, I can't stop crying, but I'm okay."

"Don't apologize, love. Just promise me you'll go see Whale. Please. I can't stand seeing you like that."

"I promise." I whisper, knowing all too well that I had to go now.

"She doesn't have a choice anymore, believe me." Regina added, as if she had read my thoughts.

I didn't say anything back and Killian gently kissed my neck to calm me down. He was looking so worried for me, and I just didn't know what to do anymore. I closed my eyes, breathing him and letting his reassuring smell comfort me. I had to stop crying. Everything was going to be okay now, it had to. I was scared, but I had my family and Killian. I would survive this. I had survived much worse. I didn't have a choice anyway. I couldn't go back, I couldn't do as if everything was okay. I was pregnant. And I had to assume the consequences of this situation.

* * *

 **here we go, as a few of you have guessed, Emma is pregnant! This fic is going to tell how they are going to live this situation with the crisis there is in town. Thanks for all the support, guys, and see you Friday!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks to oncer4life11, Emilee Amethyst and Araya for the reviews! :)**

* * *

"Very well, Emma." Whale started, sitting down behind his desk to face me and putting his elbows on the table. "The results from your blood tests are back, and as you probably already know it, you're pregnant."

"How many weeks?" I asked, trying to control my shaking voice while nervously playing with my fingers, because even if I was expecting this, it was horrifying.

"Five."

I sighted, completely discouraged by these news. A week had passed since I had taken the pregnancy test, forced my my mom and Regina. I had done many more since then, and they had all come back positive. I had naively hoped they were all wrong and I wasn't really pregnant, not wanting to let go of this last way out. My mom had forced me to go to the hospital to have my blood tested and be sure of my condition. And now, I didn't have any hope left. The blood sample couldn't be wrong. I was pregnant. I was going to have another baby even if I was everything but ready to face this situation. And because I was doing everything wrong lately, I hadn't talked with Killian yet because I was terrified. I knew it was ridiculous, but telling him was only making things more real and I couldn't accept it, not yet.

"Could you keep that for yourself until I tell Killian about it?" I asked, looking down at the floor to avoid the doctor's gaze.

"You haven't told him yet?" He said, sounding surprised and looking at me as if I was a perfect idiot, which I was this time, I was aware of it.

"No, I haven't." I admitted, ashamed of myself. "I wanted to make sure the tests were right before telling him."

I was looking for excuses, I knew it, and I hated myself for that. I should have told everything to Killian right after taking the first test. Hell, I should have told him I thought I was pregnant way before that. When I had thrown up for the first time, for example. But, as always when I was scared, I was putting my armor back on, and was trying to convince myself I could deal with the situation all alone. I was stupid, he was the damn father, he had the right to know. And beside, I should have known that trying to keep things to myself wasn't very effective. I was only feeling worse and was making everyone suffer around me. I was such an idiot.

"Well, the tests were right. You're pregnant." Whale stated with a little shrug as if the situation was perfectly normal and I wasn't on the edge of a panic attack.

"Can't it be a pseudo pregnancy?" I asked, trying to find a way out of this and this solution was looking really appealing to me because it would mean everything was all right.

"I don't think so, but if you want to, we can make sure of that." He answered, pointing toward the examination table. "Lay on it and lift up your shirt, please."

I obeyed, the cold making me shiver when I lifted up my shirt as he had asked me to, and tried to ignore my stomach that was hurting because of my anxiety. I was certain I was pregnant, now. I didn't even know why I had asked him to make sure it wasn't a pseudo pregnancy. It wasn't, I knew it, I could feel it in my bones. The truth was I had to find a way out, and it was the only thing I had thought of. But when the doctor was going to tell me I was pregnant for good, I couldn't escape this anymore. And I was so scared I was feeling like throwing up again.

"You're still having morning sicknesses?" He asked, driving me away from my thoughts.

"You mean all day long sicknesses, right?" I mumbled, and it made him smile a little bit.

"Nausea? Dizziness? Fainting?"

"Everything all at once." I answered with a little sight.

"Well, you're lucky this time, tell me!" He said, his eyes widened.

I didn't answer anything and looked at him as he was starting the ultrasound. I slightly startled when the cold jelly touched my skin. A blurry image appeared on the screen beside me. I stared at it, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw something in the middle of the screen. It was so little it was almost invisible, put I could swear it was there. I was suddenly feeling so moved about this, and I felt a lump forming in my throat when I heard the regular sound of a heartbeat ringing into the room.

"Well, you know now, Emma. You're pregnant. There is no doubt possible"

"Can we… I didn't know we could already hear its heartbeat." I stated in a muffled voice, because I was suddenly feeling like crying and it wasn't because I was unhappy, it was because this was moving me beyond words. "I thought it was too soon for that..."

"It isn't, as you can see. And it's perfectly regular." The doctor answered, focused on the screen and not noticing that I was about to start crying.

I had found out I was expecting Henry when I was eight weeks pregnant. I was at nine weeks with Liam, and I had never realized I was pregnant this early in the process. I had always thought we could only hear the heartbeat much later. I looked up at the ceiling to try and hold back my tears. I was overwhelmed by this moment. I wasn't expecting that, and hearing its heart made everything so real all at once. I didn't want to be pregnant two minutes ago. But now I was realizing that I was already loving this little baby so much. It was inside of me, I was already feeling a bound forming with it. Without notice, I felt a little pinch in my chest. I was going to have another baby, and I felt so much love for it all at once it made me dizzy. I was still scared, of course. But it was already a bit better, because of the love I was already feeling for this kid. It was wonderful and confusing at the same time.

Whale finished the exam, and I sat down, discreetly wiping off a tears I hadn't been able to hold back and that was streaming down my face. If the doctor had noticed something, he didn't say anything and I felt grateful for his thoughtfulness. I put a hand on my stomach and took three deep breaths to calm down a little bit. I was trying to process the hundredth of contradictory thoughts that were crashing inside my brain, and it was pretty difficult. When I finally managed to push away my anxiety, I got off the examination table and sat back down on the chair facing Whale, my arms and my legs crossed as if I was trying to protect myself. I was feeling like everything had suddenly changed, and I didn't really know what to do anymore.

"You're under professional secrecy, right?" I asked, biting the inside of my cheek, a bit worried at the thought Whale would tell someone about my pregnancy.

"Of course, Emma, don't worry." He said with a little smile. "I'm not planning on telling the entire world you're pregnant."

"The gossips go fast in this town." I justified myself, my eyes staring at my shoes to avoid looking at the doctor.

"But you do realize that people are going to notice you're pregnant sooner or later, right?" He asked, his eyebrows raised. "A pregnancy is not easy to hide."

"I don't want to hide it." I corrected, trying to explain myself because I knew it was a bit hard to understand. "I just want to tell Killian before anyone else, and I want to wait for Harry, Ron and Hermione to go home before announcing the town. I'm only 5 weeks pregnant anyway. I have time before starting to show, and the wizards will be back home then."

"I won't tell anything anyway, I promise." He affirmed with a nod. "About your sicknesses, there are natural ways to cope with them. I'm writing them down so you can use them. It's not much, but it will help you feel a bit better."

I stared at him as he was writing a list of things to help me with my nausea. I was feeling like I could start yelling right there, in the middle of Whale's office, because I had no idea how to deal with all these emotions. But I forced myself to stay calm and look peaceful, even if it was hard. After a couple of minutes, the doctor pushed a sheet of paper in my direction. I took it with a sight and put it in my pocket, thanking him in a low voice with the feeling I was drowning in my own emotions.

"Here we go, Emma." He said, not noticing how bad I was feeling. "I will see you for the third month ultrasound, hoping that there won't be any problems until then."

I got off my seat with somewhat shaky steps. I awkwardly crossed the door, too shocked to be able to walk straight or say something logical.

"Hang in there, okay?" He added with a little smile before closing the door behind him without waiting for an answer.

Once I was sure I was alone, I collapsed on a chair in the waiting room and took my face in my hands. I wanted to cry and yell at the same time. I was so scared not to be able to take care of this child, I was terrified thinking that I perhaps wouldn't have time for Henry and Liam anymore, but I was also so happy and it was confusing as hell. Killian and I were having a baby again. A new child, we were going to have a big family. I didn't know what to think anymore because I was too bewildered.

And suddenly, I realized something very important, and I straightened on my chair. Killian. I had to tell Killian, right now. He would know what to do, he always knew. Not wanting to wait another minute before talking with the man I loved, I wiped off the tears from my face, got off my seat and started running toward the exit of the hospital.

* * *

I walked inside of my house and slammed the door behind me without really realizing it. I had run from the hospital to where I was living, and I was really tired. I had needed to exhaust myself in order to calm my anxiety down, and I also wanted to tell Killian the sooner possible. It had actually managed to make me think straight, but it hadn't been helpful for my nausea. My legs were now really weak and I was feeling like throwing up again. But running had always been really helpful for me when I wanted to calm myself down, and it had worked perfectly as I had expected.

"Swan, you're home?" Killian's voice asked from the living room.

"Who else could it be?" I panted, heading for the room to find Hook sitting on the sofa, playing with Liam who was laughing on his lap.

"Are you okay?" He asked looking at me with one of his eyebrow raised as I collapsed next to him on the couch. "Why do you seem so tired?"

"I ran." I simply said, too breathless to offer him a better answer. "I needed it."

"Did Whale give you some answers?" He guessed in a worried voice. "Is it that bad? You seem vexed."

I shook my head to reassure him a little bit. I didn't want him to be even more concerned about me. I took a few deep breaths and closed my eyes for a couple of seconds. I wanted to tell him so bad, I didn't have a choice anyway, but I didn't know how to confess everything. I knew I had to be straightforward because it would be simpler, but it was such an important thing, and I couldn't mess this up. I opened my eyes and realized he was staring at me with great worry. I smiled at him to reassure him, and finally managed to gather my strength to say, still panting a little bit :

"Killian, I have something important to tell you. I'm..."

The phone started to ring at that exact same moment and I grunted in frustration. I couldn't believe it. Now that I was finally ready to tell him everything, I was getting cut off by a damn cell phone. Killian looked at me with a little wince and gave me Liam so he could take his phone in his pocket. He walked away in order to talk more easily, and I took my son on my lap with a loud sight. My leg was bouncing up and down from the stress, and my little boy looked at me with his big eyes as if he was getting that something was wrong. I forced myself to smile at him to erase his worried look and sat down cross-legged on the floor to start playing with him and comfort him a little bit. I couldn't stand seeing him so concerned. As I had expected, his smile came back in a matter of seconds. I smiled for real this time, realizing that playing with my son was actually making me feel better.

"It was your father." Killian said, when he came back into the living room a few minutes later. "Harry, Ron and Hermione are requiring to talk to us _immediately_ – and I'm using their words. They are waiting for us at Regina's."

"Damn." I said with my eyes widened. "I'm pretty sure they are going to shout at us."

"What were you about to say?" He asked, sitting on the sofa and looking at me with worry, wanting to know what was wrong about me.

"Later." I said, because even if I wanted to tell him so bad, I knew it wasn't the right time now that we had to go. I wanted to tell him at the right moment, when we could talk and not while we were in a hurry. "I want us to have time to talk about the news later. Don't look at me like that!" I smiled, seeing his worried look. "It's fine, I promise. I'm not dying."

"You better not." He replied with half a smile, and I giggled, thinking to myself that he was definitely so good at making me smile even in the worst situations.

"Can you stay with Liam for a little bit? I'll go ask Henry if he wants to come with us."

He nodded and I got up to walk up the stairs, running a hand through my hair in fustration. The call had arrived in the worst moment possible. I wanted to tell him more than anything, and the right moment was now gone. Everything had happened in a matter of seconds. If the phone had rung a bit later or if I had come back from Whale's a bit sooner, he would already have known. I would have been in his arms right now as he would have been telling me that everything was going to be okay and that I didn't have to worry. I sighted, thinking that I didn't even know when I was going to find a moment to tell him, now. I just wnated him to know everything. I needed his arms to comfort me. He had the right words, always.

I finally arrived upstairs, and knocked three times at my son's door. I didn't really know what to do with myself, I was a bit lost, but I was trying to stay calm in front of my children. It was hard, but I had to be strong for them.

"Come on in!" Henry yelled.

"Hey, kid." I said, entering his room and finding him playing at some video games. "We're going to Regina's, 'wanna come with us?"

"Sure!" He answered with a smile. "Why are we going?"

"Probably to get yelled at by Harry, Ron and Hermione." I replied with a little wince, and he laughed. "We haven't found the wand yet, and they are probably getting a bit impatient. You'll be able to see the wonderful show if you come, I'm sure it's going to be extremely entertaining."

"Great! Can I bring pop-corn?" He asked in a teasing tone.

"Don't push it!" I laughed because of his comment. "Come on, get ready. We're leaving in five minutes."

"Mom, wait!" He called me back as I was crossing his door, and I turned back with my eyebrows raised, wondering what was happening. "You went to see Whale, right? Do you know what's wrong? Is it bad?"

"I'm fine." I assured him with a comforting smile even if I was quite worried about Henry's reaction when he would find out he was going to be a big brother again. "I'll tell you everything when we'll have some time. But don't worry. I'm okay, I promise."

"Good." He said, smiling back at me. "I'm worried about you."

"I know you are, kid, and I think you shouldn't." I said while shaking my head, because seeing my son so concerned about me was disturbing me a bit. "Come on, let's go. The later we will get there, the louder the screams will be."

He laughed at my comment, and I finally left his room. Now that I had stopped pretending everything was okay, I was feeling like I had the weight of the world on my shoulder, and I just wanted to fall asleep and never wake up.

* * *

"It's not possible, it can't take a damn week to find this bloody wand!" Ron shouted, looking absolutely distraught.

"I can assure you we're doing everything we can." My mom tempered, looking worried by the wizards' anger. "We've looked everywhere in the town, but we haven't found anything yet..."

"We think it has been stolen." Regina added, both of her hands on her waist to show she wasn't going to accept their accusations for much longer. "But Emma and David are the sheriffs and the town isn't that big, we're going to find it. I promise you. But getting mad isn't leading us anywhere..."

"You're saying you're going to find it, but you're looking for days!" Hermione cried out, as she seemed at the edge of a mental breakdown. "Our children are in our world, and they are probably thinking we are dead! We can't stay here!"

"We know that!" I said, more and more annoyed by the situation and their criticisms. "We're doing the best we can to help you!"

I could understand their worry perfectly. I could only imagine how awful it was for them to be separated from their kids. But I was feeling like Hermione was blaming us for the wand's disappearance, and it was really pissing me off. We had spent the entire week looking around the town. I was throwing up all the time, but I hadn't taken a day off, because I wanted to help them. I would have wanted her to understand that we couldn't do anything more than what we were already doing, and I was feeling like I was going to get mad. I also knew deep down that I was more impatient than usual because I had just learned that I was pregnant, for real. Today was really not a good day to start yelling at me.

"Yeah, well it's not enough!" The witch shouted with anger.

My eyes widened. I was trying to stay calm, but it was too much for me. I suddenly felt the need to take the vase laying on the table beside me and throw it against a wall, but I managed to control myself in order not to worsen the situation. How dared she talk to us like that? We were working our asses off to help them! I was literally feeling like I was going to implode because of my anger, and I said coldly :

"Okay, listen to me very carefully. We've spent the entire week trying to send you back home. I'm sick every fucking day, and yet I'm walking around town for hours because I want to help you. If you could understand that I'm ill here instead of complaining, I would appreciate it. You are strangers. We could as well have let you try to find a way home by yourself. Hell, we could have thrown you outside of the town where there is no damn magic, or we could have locked you in one of our cells, and you would never have seen your kids again. So stop whining and help us if we're not doing enough for you!"

I had literally yelled on the last sentence, and was completely breathless. Everyone in the room was now staring at me, not knowing what to do. They weren't used to see me get that mad, and I could guess they were scared to make things worse by talking to me. There was quiet for a couple of seconds and only my panting was ringing into the silence.

"Emma..." My dad finally started, taking a step to get closer to me.

"Screw that, I'm sick of this!" I cried out before exiting the room, slamming the door behind my back.

As soon as I arrived in the hall, I leaned against the wall, taking my face in my hands. I didn't know why I had gotten so mad. My heart was still pounding almost painfully in my chest, but my head was already starting to clear up a bit, and I was realizing I shouldn't have yelled like that. She was deserving it, sure, but I could understand why she was nervous and I was usually able to control myself when I was angry. I hadn't screamed like that in a long time, and I was ashamed of myself because Henry was in the office with us, and I hated the thought that my son had seen me like that. Liam was fortunately playing with the other kids upstairs, watched by Robin, and I was relieved because I couldn't have stood him seeing me like that.

The truth was it was too much to take all at once. This crisis, the wizards' criticisms, my sicknesses and mostly all of these contradictory thoughts that were still crashing inside my brain. Hearing the heartbeat for the first time had turned me upside down, because I hadn't expected it. But now I knew I had to calm down. I didn't have a choice, the situation was already so complicated and I couldn't worsen it because I was hormonal.

I couldn't decide what to do. I couldn't go out in the street or walk back into the room and apologize, I was still too mad. So I did the only thing I was able to. My face still hidden in my hands, I slacked against the wall until I hit the ground and bend my legs on my chest, wrapping my arms around my knees. I was feeling safe in that position, as if nothing could ever hurt me. Voices suddenly started to ring from the other side of the door, and I listened carefully, curious to know what my friends were saying :

"What's gotten into her?" My dad said, sounding completely lost.

"I'll go talk to her." Killian decided in a worried voice, but he got interrupted by my mom.

"No, stay here. I'll go. I know what's happening."

No one said anything to hold her back, but I could guess they were a bit triggered by her words. I stayed on the floor, not having the strength to get on my feet, and looked up when I heard the door opening. My mom closed it behind her and she knelt beside me on the floor. She put her hand on my arm to gently comfort me and asked in a low voice :

"What's wrong, honey?"

"Everything. It's just… It's..." I stuttered, feeling like I was going to start crying again. "It's just too much."

I felt a tear streaming down my face and grunted in frustration. I was feeling like I was crying all the time these past few days. _Fucking hormones._

"What is it that is too much, Emma?" She asked gently.

"All of this, I just… I can't take it anymore." I admitted, realizing that I wasn't making any sense but I wasn't able to explain what I had in mind. "I can't with my sicknesses, and I… well, I went to see Whale today."

"Is that why you're so nervous?" She guessed, gently stroking my arm and it calmed me down a little bit.

"Yeah, I guess. I've tried to tell Killian the truth, but dad called us and it made me feel even worse." I said, looking down to try and pull myself together even if I was feeling utterly lost.

"He doesn't know yet?" She asked with a little sight.

"I wanted to make sure of what was going on. Now I just want him to know but it's never the right time and it's driving me crazy." I confessed, and seeing that she wasn't saying anything back, I added in a low voice to make sure that they couldn't hear me through the door. "I've heard the heart for the first time today. You're going to think I'm crazy, and I probably am, but… I've realized I already love this kid so much. It's 5 weeks old. It's stupid."

"It's not stupid at all, Emma." She reassured me, moving her hand to run it through my hair. "It's normal. And I understand that you want to tell Killian. It's okay to be nervous. But right now, you have to calm down. You have the right to be mad at Hermione, what she said was unfair, but you have to go and talk to her. It will only make things worse if you stay mad at each other."

"I know." I sighted, knowing that she was right.

I was still feeling really bad, but talking with someone about my feelings had actually made me feel much better. My mom gently smiled at me and offered me her hand so I could get up. I got on my feet with a new sight, trying to find my balance. I looked at her as she walked toward the door, and started talking as she was about to open it.

"Mom?"

"Yes, baby?"

"Thanks." I said with a little smile, because I was so happy she was always there to calm me down when I was having these kinds of breakdowns.

"You don't have to thank me, Emma." She answered with a smile. "I'm here for you. I regret everyday the fact I haven't raised you, you know. I want to be there for you now that I can. We've made mistakes with your father, I know it. We've made you suffer sometimes, and I'm so sorry about that. But we're here now. Whenever you need us."

"You really want to make me cry, don't you?" I said in a muffled voice, feeling tears forming in my eyes again.

Her smile widened and she gently wrapped her arms around me. I had kept my armor for so long with my parents, because I was scared to get hurt again. But now that I had finally opened to them, I genuinely loved it when they were taking me into their arms. I was feeling loved and safe, feelings I had searched for so long when I was a little girl and I was finally discovering now that I was a grown-up.

"I love you so much, Emma. I'm so proud of you, you know?"

"I'm starting to realize it" I said in a muffled voice while my mom pulled away from me to wipe off my tears.

"Are you ready to go inside? I think Hermione doesn't feel very good about what happened. She gets mad quite fast, but she has a good heart, and I know she's feeling guilty to have said these things to you."

I nodded, knowing that it was time for me to apologize, and followed my mom into the room. Everyone turned to look at me all at once, and I smiled to reassure them even if I was feeling really awkward about this entire situation.

"Are you okay, love?" Killian asked, getting closer to me to place his hand on the small of my back.

"I'm fine." I said in a whisper, looking straight into his eyes to make him understand that everything was okay now. "Hermione." I added, turning to face the witch. "I'm sorry I've yelled like that. I shouldn't have. And I understand you. I would be nervous too if I was far from my family."

"I'm the one who's sorry." She said, looking down at her feet and I was guessing she was feeling really guilty about her words. "I didn't think a word of what I've said. I know you're doing everything you can..."

"We're even." I said with half a smile to show her I wasn't mad anymore. "And I promise you we're working our asses off to find this damn wand. But… You can help us if you want to. The more we are, the more chance we have to find it."

They nodded, looking quite thrilled by my proposition, as if our argument had already been completely forgotten. We formed two teams to be more effective : Killian, my dad, Henry and I to search around the docks and my mom, Regina, Robin and the three wizards to look for the missing wand in the forest. We decided that the kids would go to Ashley's, and as we were all walking out of the room to get our cars and start the search, Killian gently grabbed my elbow to hold me back. I raised my eyebrows at him, wondering what he wanted to tell me, but he waited for everyone to be gone before talking :

"Are you okay?"

"I've already told you, babe, I'm fine." I said with a smile, wanting to erase his worried look.

"Are you sure? You really seem upset, and I'm concerned..."

"I know you are." I said, putting my hand on his cheek. "But I'm fine. I'm just stressed because of what Whale has said to me..."

"You still don't want to tell me?"

"Later, when we'll be home." I decided, knowing that saying I was pregnant now that everyone was waiting for us outside wasn't a good idea. "It's better to wait a little bit. I love you." I added, seeing that he was still looking worried. "It's going to be okay."

"I know. I love you too." He finally smiled, wrapping his arms around me to pull me into a tight embrace, and I buried my face into the crook of his neck.

* * *

 **I promise you Emma will finally tell everything to Killian next chapter! See you Monday! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks to Emilee Amethyst and oncer4life11 (You'll know the baby's gender toward the end of the story ;) ) for the reviews! :)**

* * *

"And they lived happily ever after."

I closed the book I was reading to Liam for his bedtime story. I really liked to tell him about fairy tales, the one we knew in this world but also the stories about our family, the ones that were in Henry's book. One day, my boy would understand that all of this was real. I wanted him to know these tales, because they were a part of him. Even if I hadn't had the chance to know what it was like to be a princess, my origins were quite important for me now. And I could tell without a doubt that my son was loving these moments as well, because he was always listening to me with the greatest attention.

"It's time to go to bed, now, sweetheart." I stated in a low voice, lifting up my son to bring him to his crib.

"I'm not tired." He said, rubbing his eyes and yawning, and that made me smile because he was adorable.

"I really do think you are." I corrected, leaning forward to press a kiss on his forehead. "Good night, Liam. I love you so much."

His smile reached his eyes, and he laid down in his bed. I stayed by his side and waited for him to fall asleep, but it didn't take long : two minutes later, he was breathing peacefully, a little smile on his face. I left the room in silence in order not to wake my son up. I took a hot shower even if I had already done so the same morning : I was feeling like I needed it to clear up my mind. I finally put on the tank top and the leggings I was wearing to sleep, and laid down in my bed with a sight. Killian and Henry hadn't come home yet, they were still out there in the night. They were looking everywhere in the most unexpected places for hours now, but I knew they hadn't found anything yet because they would have called me otherwise. I had come home at the end of the afternoon, feeling too sick and unable to continue the research. I was so exhausted. This pregnancy was definitely not going too well, between my sicknesses and the fact I was always tired. But as I had stayed home, I'd had the time to take care of Liam for a little while, and it had made me feel a little bit better.

I heard the front door opening as I was slowly falling asleep, and I forced myself to stay awake a little bit longer and wait for Killian. I wanted to talk to him about the reason why I had gotten so mad in the morning, and finally tell him about the pregnancy. I couldn't wait anymore, I just wanted him to know. I literally had to fight against myself to keep my eyes open, and I rubbed my face several times in order not to fall asleep. I finally saw Killian's figure appearing in the dark room, and I started talking right away as if I was scared I could lose consciousness before telling him what I wanted :

"I suppose you haven't found anything?" I guessed in a slurred voice.

"We haven't." He answered, sitting down on the bed next to me as I was laying on my back, my hands on my stomach. "Are you feeling better?"

"Not really." I mumbled with a shrug. "Is Henry okay?"

"I think he went to bed right away, he's very tired." He answered with a little smile, his hand on my thigh. "I guess you're not going to tell me what's happening today, are you?"

"What makes you say that?" I asked with a yawn, not understanding his comment because even if I just wanted to sleep, I wanted to talk to him as well.

"You're falling asleep while talking to me, darling, I'm not sure it's a good idea to tell me everything now." He said with a gentle smile. "You should sleep, you really need to rest."

"You're right, but I really want to tell you." I said with a pout, because I knew he was telling the truth and talking to him now wasn't a good idea as I was already half asleep. "I'm sorry, I'm so exhausted…"

"It's okay, love, I can wait until tomorrow morning." He smiled, gently stroking my leg with his thumb.

"Thank you." I whispered with a small smile, touched by his thoughtfulness.

He leaned forward to press a kiss on my forehead, and gently ran his hand through my hair. Comforted by his strokes, I fell asleep a few seconds later.

* * *

The fear awakened me and I startled, managing to hold back a cry of terror at the last second. A cold sweat was covering my forehead. This damn nightmare again. I should have been used to it by now, but I was absolutely horrified. The idea of losing Killian was making me lose control. My heart was painfully pounding in my chest and I was feeling like throwing up. Utterly panicked, still half asleep, I turned to grab Killian's arm and comfort myself, and I gasped in surprise.

Empty, his side of the bed was empty and cold. It had never happened before. He was always by my side during my night terrors. He was always there to take me into his arms and assure me that everything was okay and that he wouldn't go anywhere.

I sat down, terrified. My heart was hurting me, and making me dizzy. He wasn't there. It couldn't be real. What if something had happened to him while I was asleep? What if my dream had been a vision all this time, and I hadn't done anything to save him? What if he had left me, like everyone before him, because of my mood swings?

My mind still foggy because of the panic and the fact I was only half awake, I jumped out off the bed, not knowing what to do. I tried to take some deep breaths to calm down and avoid fainting, and I glanced at the bathroom, but the room was pitch-black. He wasn't there either. He was gone because he couldn't stand my temper anymore, or worse, he was dead. I was so scared he had left me, I was so scared he was gone for good. I couldn't lose him. Not him, not now that I was pregnant, not while we were supposed to spend the rest of our life together. What if he didn't love me anymore and he hadn't had the courage to tell me in order not to hurt me?

I rushed into the staircase, almost falling on each step because I was going too fast, but I didn't care. I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and listened to the silence. A sound drew my attention. Someone's breathing. It was almost imperceptible, but I was so focused it was feeling very loud to me. It was coming from the kitchen, and I ran toward the room. The floor was cold under my bare feet.

Someone was leaning against the wall, looking at the window. I looked down and recognized Killian by his hook. He wasn't moving a bit and was lost in his thoughts. He probably hadn't heard me coming, because he didn't turn to look at me. I stopped a few feet away from him, breathless, with the feeling that my pounding heart was ringing into the entire house.

"Killian?" I asked in a low voice, terrified at the thought I could be imagining the figure and he was really gone.

He moved to face me and looked at me with surprise. Without thinking about it, I rushed toward him and buried my face into the crook of his neck. Tears were streaming down my face. I hadn't even realized I was crying. I let go of a sob as he was wrapping both his arms around me. He was there. He hadn't gone anywhere, he was okay. I pulled him a little bit closer to me as if I was scared he was going to disappear.

"Emma?" He whispered in a broken voice, and I could guess he was hurt by my tears. "What's wrong, baby? Have you had a nightmare again?"

"I was so scared..." I sobbed as he was running his hand through my hair. "You weren't in the bed anymore and… and..."

"It's okay, love, I'm so sorry." He said, his hand gently rubbing my back. "I couldn't sleep, so I came here for a bit. I didn't mean to frighten you."

"I thought… something had happened to you..." I panted in his neck.

"Shhh, sweetheart, I'm here, I'm fine." He said gently. "Calm down, nothing happened to me."

"Or I thought you'd left me." I added in such a low voice it was barely audible.

I was slowly coming out of the panicked state I was in, and I realized how wrong my words were sounding one second after speaking them. I violently bit my lower lip when I felt him stiffen against me. Of course he would never leave me, he had promised he would always be by my side. I trusted him. And he loved me, I knew it. How could I have thought about such a thing?

The look he gave me when he pulled away from me, his hand still on the small of my back, made me feel so ashamed of myself I let go of another sob. He was frowning and was looking so sad, as if he couldn't believe what I had just told him.

"Swan, you… You've really thought such a thing?" He asked, looking really upset.

"I'm sorry, I… I thought..." I stuttered, not knowing what I could say to redeem myself. "I can be such a bitch lately, I hate myself for that. You're always there for me and I get mad at you for no reason and I just thought… Maybe you'd gotten sick of me..." I admitted, looking down at the floor.

"Swan, look at me." He said, putting one of his finger underneath my chin to lift it up, and I could see he wasn't mad but was really worried because of my words. "I will never leave you, you understand? It's not a couple of mood swings that are going to stop what I feel for you. I love you so much. I will never let you down."

"Promise?" I asked with a little sniff.

"Promise." He nodded, wrapping his arms around me and pressing a kiss on the top of my head. "Bloody hell, Swan, you should have understood I love you way too much to leave you at the slightest problem by now."

"I'm so sorry." I whispered, so happy he wasn't mad at me because I was behaving like such an idiot.

"Don't apologize, darling, it's okay." He smiled, pulling away from me and wiping off the tears from my cheeks. "Come on. A bit of rum will make you feel better."

He reached to give me the flask, but I pushed his hand away in an impulse because the thought of drinking alcohol and hurting the baby was making me shiver. I only realized how violent my reaction had been when I saw Killian's face. He was looking at me with worry, and put the flask on the table beside him. I sighted and rubbed my eyes, exhausted by everything that was happening lately.

"Okay, Emma, I think we can't wait any longer. Something is seriously wrong and I wanna know what it is. Can you explain everything to me now?" He kindly asked, taking my hand in his in a concerned way.

"Come with me." I whispered, dragging him toward the living room couch.

He sat down and looked at me with attention. It was time. I wanted to tell him so bad now, I would feel so much better when he would know what was happening, I was sure of it. He would understand, he was getting me better than anyone. He was probably going to be so happy. I knew it was the perfect timing. We were alone in the living room, the kids were sleeping, and I really needed him to know. All of this was way too heavy to bare by myself.

I sat down next to him and he placed his hand on my thigh to encourage me. I took some deep breaths and closed my eyes for a couple of seconds to give me some strength. It was going to be okay. _Come on girl, you need to do it now._ I opened my eyes and said really fast before I had the time to change my mind :

"I'm pregnant."

He didn't answer anything but the smile that appeared on his face meant everything. I let out a sight of relief and he took me into his arms. I snuggled against his chest as he was kissing me everywhere he could reach. I giggled a little bit. I had been right before, telling him was already making me feel so much better. I was finally breathing again. His hand made its way to my still flat stomach and stroked it gently. He was looking so happy, but not particularly surprised, and I felt a bit puzzled by his reaction :

"No cries? No objections?" I asked, pulling away from him to look at him as his hand was still on my stomach.

"What were you expecting?" He asked with a chuckle.

"I don't know. I thought you would be at least a bit surprised." I shrugged.

"Let's say the idea of you being pregnant has crossed my mind before..." He admitted, before adding when I frowned, surprised by his words : "I'm not an idiot Swan! You're throwing up, you're passing out, you can't bare smells… It wasn't complicated to guess. When have you learned about it?"

"A few days ago." I winced, a bit scared because I knew he was going to get upset by the fact I hadn't told him right away. "Regina and my mom… Kinda forced me to take a test because I was in denial. I'm sorry." I added, seeing that his expression had changed to look a bit disappointed by the fact he wasn't the first to know. "I really am. I would have wanted you to be the first to know. But then I took the test and it told me I was pregnant, and I didn't tell you because I wanted to make sure it wasn't a false positive and… I'm such an idiot." I sighted as he was shaking his head in disbelief. "I didn't mean to hurt you. Please forgive me?"

"You're not an idiot, Swan." He said, letting go of a little sight. "But I don't get why you haven't told me right away. Don't you trust me enough to know that I'm not going to freak out? We're raising two kids together!"

"Of course I trust you!" I cried out, and he smiled at me to show me that he wasn't mad but only a bit disappointed. "It's just… I don't know. I was so scared..."

"Whatever happens, Emma, I will always be there for you." He promised gently. "I just would have wanted you to tell me before, but it's okay now, I know it. Can you tell me why you got so scared? We've done this before, I think we're making quite a good team when it comes to raise a baby, and you know how wonderful you are with kids now..."

"I know, it's just that it wasn't planned. For now, I can split my time to take care of Liam as much as I do with Henry, and I'm just scared I won't be able to spend as much time with everyone with a third kid in the house..." I confessed, relieved that he wasn't really mad at me for not talking to him right away but still feeling guilty about the fact I hadn't told him sooner.

"Everything will be okay, darling, I promise." He comforted me with a gentle smile. "We're going to figure it out, I know it, we always do. And I think I can tell without a doubt we're making quite good parents."

I smiled, reassured by his words. He was right, everything would be okay. We had gone through so much together, a new baby was a new adventure we would live side by side. He smiled back at me, his hand cupping my cheek, and he asked in a low voice :

"You wanna tell the others?"

"Only Henry and my dad for now." I said, before adding by seeing his questioning look : "I'm only five weeks pregnant. I don't want to tell everyone while the wizards are still in town. I'd rather wait a little bit. It wouldn't be right to tell them I'm expecting while they are trying to go back to their families. Beside… the last time I was pregnant it didn't go that well and I'm a bit worried about people starting to treat me like a fragile little thing again. I'm talking about you too, captain." I added with a playful smile, and he laughed.

"I promise you I'll try to let you live." He said, and it made me smile even more. "Tell me, is that why you were so nervous this afternoon? Because Whale confirmed that you were pregnant?"

"I heard the heart for the first time." I admitted, biting the inside of my cheek, thinking that he would have wanted to be there too. "It really did something to me because… I realized we're having another baby for real, and even if I'm scared it made me happy… I'm so sorry, babe." I added, hoping that he wasn't too mad at me even if I was deserving it. "I should have told you right away. I trust you more than anyone, it's just that I was so scared I've put my armor back on..."

"It's okay, love, I forgive you." He said gently, and I felt so grateful to spend my life with this wonderful man. "But you can tell me anything, okay? At least you know it for next time." He added with a playful smile.

"There won't be a next time!" I cried out before realizing he was messing with me.

He laughed and pulled me closer to him to start kissing me passionately. A few minutes later, I found myself laying on my back on the sofa, my tank top lifted up, showing my naked stomach. Killian placed little kisses down my chest and finished his path by kissing me just underneath my belly-button. That made me laugh and I arched my back to get closer to him. I enjoyed his strokes for a few more minutes, my sights muffled in order not to wake the kids up, before finally stopping him, a bit breathless :

"Wait, what about Henry and Liam?"

"They won't wake up." He assured with a smile.

I nodded and smiled playfully at him. I was so happy he finally knew about my pregnancy that I had forgotten about my exhaustion and was in a very good mood. My expression triggered him and he raised an eyebrow at me. Without notice, I moved to be on top of him :

"My turn, captain."

He laughed and I cut him off with another kiss.

* * *

"Very well." I started, taking a deep breath and looking with worry at Killian, who smiled at me to encourage me. "We have something quite important to tell you."

I was sitting cross-legged on my parents' sofa, Killian next to me, his hand on my knee. We had reunited my parents and Henry to tell them the news, and I was quite anxious about their possible reaction. Neal and Liam were playing together not far from us, but they couldn't hear what we were saying. My mom, who knew exactly what I was going to say, smiled at me to comfort me, but it didn't really work as my heart was still pounding quite painfully in my chest.

"I knew you hadn't made us come here so we could eat cookies." Henry said, amused by my expression. "what do you want to tell us?"

"I...We… I… Oh, damn it!" I sighted in frustration, closing my eyes to try and pull myself together.

Why was it so hard for me to tell them everything? I had already done that kind of thing before. And I was almost sure they would all be very happy for us. My dad was so in love with his grandchildren and Henry was the absolute best with kids. The truth was I was so scared about these news I was projecting my fear on the people I loved.

"Come on, Emma, it can't be that hard." My father said gently, answering my thoughts.

"And why don't you tell them this time?" I asked, turning to look at Killian who smiled at me in amusement. "It's always me who have to say things like that. Maybe you should do it for once."

"As you wish." He said, laughing a little bit and moving his hand from my knee to intertwine his fingers with mine. "What we wanted to say is that... Emma is pregnant."

"Again?" Henry cried out, his eyes widened.

I winced and ran a hand through my hair, embarrassed. I had actually been scared he would react that way. Liam was still so young, and no one had expected me to get pregnant again, including myself. I was so scared he would feel bad and rejected, because I just wanted him to be happy. But a huge smile suddenly appeared on his face, and I felt unsettled by his reaction.

"Don't look at me like that, mom!" he laughed. "I was kidding!"

"Very funny" I mumbled, but I ended up smiling anyway because I was feeling so relieved. "You're okay with it, then?"

"It wouldn't change anything if I wasn't happy about it anyway. I mean, it's a bit late now… Come on, mom!" He added, seeing that I was getting very worried. "It was a joke! Smile! Have the pregnancy erased your sense of humor?"

"I'd say it's the nausea's fault." My dad intervened with a playful smile.

"Seriously? You're not going to start mocking me as well!" I cried out, a bit triggered because I hadn't expected my family to take this so casually.

It was looking like I was the only one anxious by this new baby coming into our life. Killian had spent the rest of the night and the entire morning with a huge smile on his face, taking every occasion to hold me against him or touch my stomach. He had even come into the bathroom as I was having one of my morning sickness to hold my hair back despite my protestations because I didn't like him seeing me like that. He was looking at me as if I was the most precious thing alive, and he was so gentle I was actually feeling a little bit better. My parents were looking genuinely happy, and Henry seemed pretty excited by the news. Their reactions were pretty comforting, because I knew I wasn't alone to face that. I would never be again.

"We're joking." David assured, shaking his head with a smile. "And congratulations, honey. I'm so happy for you."

"Really?" I asked with a small smile.

"Of course! I'm going to have another grandchild, this is one of the best thing that could happen."

He got up to approach me, and I imitated him to embrace him as he was gently rubbing my back. I couldn't help myself but smile. Sure, I was scared, sure, I wasn't ready to have another baby, but my family was there for me and it was so important to me.

"You're not saying anything?" Henry asked my mom after I had hugged him, as we were still standing in the middle of the living room.

"I already knew it." She admitted with a shrug.

My son and my dad turned to look at me, completely offended by this revelation, and I lifted up my hands in the air with a smile, walking to sit back next to Killian :

"Don't look at me like that! Mom and Regina have learned it even before Killian. They are the ones who forced me to take a pregnancy test. And they didn't leave me a choice, believe me."

"We were right, though." My mom stated with a smile.

I didn't say anything but nodded, knowing that she was right. I was so happy the people I loved were taking the news so well. Everything would be okay. Killian was right : I didn't have to be afraid anymore.

"Oh yeah, before we forget." I resumed. "We would like to keep this between us for now. I'd rather tell everyone when Harry, Ron and Hermione will be back in their world. I'm not going to start showing for a while, and we have time to take care of this crisis before telling about the new baby to our friends."

"Are you sure you want to keep on working while..." My dad started, but I cut him off in a bossy way.

"Stop right now. That's also why I don't want everyone to know for now. I know my latest pregnancy didn't go so well, but there is no way I'm going to stop living because I'm expecting again."

"She told me the exact same thing." Killian said, his eyes widened in a falsely frightened way. "You better listen to her. She's really serious."

I looked at him in an annoyed way and he wrapped his arms around me, laughing. I smiled back, unable to stay mad at him. I looked at Liam, who was peacefully playing with Neal, wondering how we could explain him he wasn't going to be the youngest in the family anymore. But I decided to worry about this later : I had managed to tell my family what was happening, and I was feeling like a weight had been taken off my shoulders. Everything would be fine. I knew it know. I didn't have to be afraid anymore.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys! So I know I'm early, but it's because I'm going out on Friday and I won't be able to post the chapter so I'm updating today! Thanks to Emilee Amethyst, Lilybean2004, oncer4life11 and Araya for the reviews! :)**

* * *

I got out of the bathroom and quickly walked toward Liam's room, in such a hurry that I slammed the door behind me. I didn't even startle because of the noise. The floor was cold under my bare feet and it made me shiver, but I didn't even think about stopping to put on my shoes, aware that I was already way too late. Brushing my hair behind my back, I walked into the nursery and my eyes immediately met Killian, who was gently playing with Liam on the rocking chair laying in the corner of the room. He got up when he saw me coming in, and I absent-mindlessly smiled back at him, a bit lost in my thoughts.

I was actually feeling a bit anxious thinking about the crowd and the smells of food I was going to face at Granny's. We hadn't managed to send the wizards back home yet, and my parents had thought it could be a good idea to reunite everyone at the diner to finally introduce Harry, Ron and Hermione to the people of Storybrooke. But this idea was also secretly a try to make them forget about their situation for a little while. It had been two weeks since they had arrived in town, and we seemed unable to fix their problem. My parents had then thought it would be good for them to spend a night out, surrounded by friendly people. I was hoping they would manage to forget about their sadness at least for a couple of hours. We were doing the best we could, but it seemed completely useless and I had to admit it was making me feel quite nervous as well.

I was six weeks pregnant, and my hormones were a bit unruly sometimes. I could get mad or burst into tears without notice, but the good news was I was finally able to eat a little bit without throwing up directly afterward. It was a bit random, though, I didn't know when my stomach was going to agree on keeping my meal inside of me, but being able to enjoy some food from time to time was giving me some strength back, even if it was unusual when I wasn't having at least one sickness a day. At least I wasn't feeling sick all day long anymore, I was able to sleep well since I had told Killian everything and I was able to eat a little bit. Things were going to get better from now, I knew it.

"Do we have everything?" I asked hastily, looking around me to make sure we hadn't left anything important in the room. "Do we have clothes in case Liam drops food on his? We can't forget his teddy either, or it will be world war three..."

"Wow." Killian cut me off without answering me.

"What?" I asked, surprised, turning back to look at him.

I hadn't noticed the way he was staring at me before, but now I could see he was looking at me with his eyes widened, as if he was impressed by something. I opened my mouth to ask him what the hell had gotten into him, but he started to talk before I could say anything and half a smile appeared on his face :

"Just wow. You look stunning, Swan."

I couldn't help but smile at his comment, looking into the mirror hanging on a wall in the room to look at my reflexion. I was wearing a knee-length, dark blue and simple dress, and my hair was hanging in blond curls in my back. I wasn't feeling like I had done something special, but Hook seemed to like my outfit very much. He was literally looking at me as if I was the eighth wonder of the world.

"Stop it." I said, feeling myself blush a little bit. "I haven't done anything special."

"Believe me, you look absolutely gorgeous." He objected, his eyes shinning in a beautiful way.

I smiled, realizing that even when I was feeling anxious, he was managing to make me feel better. I approached him and cupped his face to press a light kiss on his lips. I pulled away to look at him : he was wearing modern clothes, a clear blue shirt and black jeans, but a leather jacket was giving him a bit of a pirate style.

"You don't look too bad yourself." I commented with a playful smile.

"Always the tone of surprise." He replied, and I laughed because he knew all to well I loved it when he was dressing that way.

I looked at him for a few more seconds, my hand in his neck, playing with his hair. I was so happy we had found each other and we had built a life together. He was the best partner and father I could ever have wished for, and he was not only my fiance but also my best friend. He was knowing and understanding me better than anyone else. I was so in love with him I didn't even know how to tell him anymore. At this stage of the game, even _I love you_ didn't seem powerful enough. That's why I changed the subject, knowing that he was guessing my thoughts without me having to say anything :

"Very well, we should go now." I said, reaching to take my son in my arms. "We're already way too late."

"That's not surprising, really." He sighted, raising an eyebrow at me. "Seriously, since Liam is here, I feel like we're always late for everything."

"That's a fact." I replied with a smile. "Could you take Liam's bag, please? We really have to go."

"How are you feeling?" He asked, following me as I was walking down the stairs, the bag on his shoulder. "Did you have any sickness today?"

"I'm okay." I answered as I was struggling to dress Liam with his coat, and Killian dropped his burden on the floor to help me. "I mean, I don't know with all the smells there are going to be at the diner, but for now I'm all right. At the worst, I can go out in the patio. It's made for that."

"Really." He snorted in amusement. "In your opinion, the patio has been built to help pregnant ladies who don't tell their friends about the new baby coming into the family?"

"That's right." I answered, sounding very serious on purpose.

He laughed and I couldn't help myself but smile a little bit, unable to hide my amusement. Liam was bouncing up and down around us, looking deeply happy by the little party we were going to. I wasn't as eager as my son to get there, knowing that I would probably feel sick. I sighted, took Liam against me and braced myself to go out and face the cold as my little boy was laughing out loud, sounding really excited.

* * *

"I'm going out for a couple of minutes." I whispered into Killian's ear.

"You're not feeling well?" He asked in worry, his hand on the small of my back as if he wanted to comfort me a little bit.

"Not really. It's not too bad for now, but I'd rather go before it worsens too much." I explained, smiling at him in order not to concern him to much.

"You want me to go with you?" He offered, tightening his grip on my waist as if he was scared I would faint.

"Don't worry, I'll be back in a bit."

He nodded, still frowning, and I kissed his cheek to comfort him. I felt him staring at my back as I was walking toward the diner's front door.

The patio was completely empty. I leaned against one of the wall with a little sight of relief, breathing the fresh air of the night. I knew I had been right to come out here. I didn't want to play hero and wait for my nausea to become unbearable. I really didn't want to collapse during the party. The dozens of smells mixing up inside the diner had made my stomach quite painful, and I placed a hand on it. Meat, lasagnas, bacon, cakes, all of this was making me sick but I also wanted to eat because I was craving any kind of food, and it was really frustrating as I knew I would throw up if I tried to eat one of those things. By coming out here, I was also getting a bit of quiet, and I really needed it.

The party was going pretty well. Harry, Ron and Hermione were looking like they were getting on well with our friends, even if we were all hoping we would find something to help them soon and they wouldn't stay for much longer. I was getting their nervousness quite well, actually. I would have gone crazy if I had been separated from Henry or Liam. At least the little party was helping them to forget their problems for a couple of hours, and it could only do them good.

I suddenly heard the front door opening and I turned my head, thinking that it was probably Killian who wanted to make sure I was all right. But I felt my eyes widened when I recognized Hermione's figure, wondering why she had come out here. She approached me, her arms wrapped around herself to keep warm, and she started talking somewhat shyly, leaning next to me against the wall :

"Hey."

"Hey." I answered with a smile. "You're having fun?"

"Yes, it's really sweet, thank you for organizing this." She said, smiling back at me. "People are definitely very nice with strangers in this town, tell me."

"We're used to welcome people coming from another world." I confessed, turning to look at her more carefully.

She was looking like she wanted to say something, but she waited for a few seconds before talking, as if she was trying to find the right words to begin the conversation. I patiently waited for her to be ready, taking some deep breaths as I was already feeling so much better, and she finally said with a little wince :

"Are you feeling sick again?"

"I'm fine." I shrugged, not wanting her to start wondering what was really happening to me. "I'm just sick a lot these past few weeks. Liver problems." I added, telling the lie I had created to explain why I was feeling so weak.

"Seriously?" She answered, looking surprised by my words. "Aren't you too young for these kinds of things?"

"Well, that's how things are when you live with a former pirate : you drink too much." I joked.

She laughed quietly. I opened my mouth to ask her why she had come to join me instead of staying with her friends, but she outstripped me and said very quickly :

"Look, Emma, I wanted to apologize."

"Huh?" I asked, perplexed, not understanding why she wanted to do such a thing. "Why?"

"Because I feel like we've taken a pretty bad start. I'm sorry I get mad like that so often. I know you're doing everything you can. Ron is right. I can be a real bitch sometimes."

"Hey." I said gently, looking at her in the eyes to show her I wasn't mad and I was actually getting why she was so nervous. "Don't blame yourself. I'm a bit nervous as well lately. I just think we both have quite a temper, but I know we could get along pretty well if we made some efforts. And I understand why you are getting annoyed sometimes. I would scream too if I was apart from my kids."

"Thanks, Emma." She sighted, before adding a bit absent-mindlessly. "I just hope they're okay..."

"I'm sure they are." I comforted her. "And we are going to send you back home, I promise. We won't give up. My family always manages to make things right at the end."

"It means a lot to me you're understanding." She said with honesty. "So… Friends?"

"Friends." I agreed, reaching for her hand, and she gave me a handshake with a smile.

The door opened once again, and the noise made us turn to see who was coming our way. Killian appeared, a cup in his hand, and walked toward us. He frowned when he saw Hermione standing next to me and the young woman said with a smile :

"I'll leave you two alone."

I looked at her as she was crossing the door to enter the diner before turning back to look at Killian. He was staring at me, one of his eyebrow raised in a questioning look and asked :

"What did she want?"

"Apologize for getting mad sometimes. We are officially friends."

"One last thing to worry about." He said playfully. "Two women with personalities like yours and with magical powers who always fight, it could have ended pretty badly."

I laughed at his comment, and he handed me the mug he was holding. It was containing a fruity smelling tea, and I wrapped my hands around the cup, enjoying the heat that was coming from it.

"Are you okay?" He asked after I had thanked him, and I nodded. "It should help your sickness..."

"I know." I kindly scoffed. "I read Whale's list too, you know."

"I apologize for worrying about you." He said in a falsely disapproving way, but he regained his smile when he heard me giggle at his comment. "You sure you okay? Did the fresh air help you? Do you need anything?"

"I'm fine, babe." I said with a smile to reassure him. "I don't need anything. I just can't wait for my sicknesses to be over. I just want to eat normally again. It's so unfair, I have cravings but I can't eat or else I throw up."

"I'm so sorry about that." He winced, running his hand through my hair as if he wanted to comfort me. "If only I could help..."

"You're already so sweet about all of this, you're helping me more that you could ever realize it." I confessed with honesty.

"Do you want to stay here or do you feel good enough to go inside?" He asked, smiling because of my comment.

"Let's go find the others." I said, before adding playfully. "And it should be okay. We all know tea is the magic solution to fight against pregnancy sicknesses…."

"Stop mocking me!" He laughed, shaking his head but looking quite amused by my jokes.

"Wait a minute." I called him back as he was moving toward the door.

He turned to face me, looking a bit surprised, not understanding why I had suddenly changed my mind. I smiled and put myself on my tiptoe to kiss his lips. I had felt the need to thank him for all his support, and it was the only thing I had found to show him how happy I was he was by my side. He kissed me back and said as I was pulling away from him :

"Wow, okay. What's happening?"

"Do I need a special occasion to kiss you, now?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I just wanted to make sure it was you and not your hormones going crazy again." He replied, playing along with my teasing.

I looked at him in a falsely annoyed way and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, laughing and dragging me with him into the diner.

* * *

"Okay, Liam's finally asleep." I said with a tired sight, walking into the room to find Killian sitting on our bed, probably waiting for me.

"He didn't want to get to bed?" He asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

"I think we've let him eat too many sweets. He's high on sugar, I've never seen him like that" I answered, my eyes widened, and Killian laughed at my comment.

I sat down on the bed with another sight, running a hand through my hair. Hook and I were reading Liam's bed story alternately, so we could both have a moment alone with our son. I usually loved these few minutes spent with Liam, but he had been very difficult this time. It wasn't his fault, he was excited because of the party and we shouldn't have let him eat so many sweets. But I had to admit that putting him to bed had exhausted me, and I just wanted to go to sleep and never wake up.

"I'm happy I made up with Hermione." I confessed, sitting cross-legged and leaning against the head board. "I really think we can get along pretty well now."

"It will indeed make things easier if you stop yelling at each other" He gently teased me.

"You're certainly not the good person to lecture me about the importance of staying calm when someone is pissing me off." I replied playfully, and he laughed while shaking his head.

"With the two of us as parents, we can be happy Liam is such a little angel." He stated.

"Yeah, that's quite surprising, really. But wait for it. He's only two. He can still change."

"And maybe the new little one is going to inherit our personalities." He answered, gently pressing his hand against my belly-button.

"Please, try not to jinx us" I laughed. "I know you want to teach them how to be good pirates and everything, but don't cross the line."

"You seem to feel better about your pregnancy, am I wrong?" He asked, suddenly regaining seriousness and moving to face me on the bed

"I'm not gonna lie, I'm still a bit worried." I admitted. "But it's true I'm feeling much better since I've told you everything."

"That's right, I'm so good at comforting people." He bragged with a mischievous smile.

"Idiot." I said, rolling my eyes but smiling at the same time.

He didn't say anything back and was looking pretty proud of himself. He could be so adorable sometimes. Before I could say anything, he approached me and placed his hand on the small of my back, whispering :

"I really like this dress a lot."

I didn't have the time to answer to his comment. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against mine. He kissed me breathlessly, and it became more and more passionate. My hand found its way underneath his shirt as the other one was placed against his chest. We finally parted, mostly to start breathing again, and I said against his lips :

"Mmm. Very well. If it makes you that happy, I'll wear this more often."

He rolled his eyes with a smile he couldn't hide and started kissing me again, more and more hastily as if he couldn't stand being far from me anymore. I moaned when he bit my lower lip, and closed my eyes as my heartbeat was starting to fasten. I ran my fingers against the skin of his back, and it made him shiver. He pulled me a little bit closer, his hand on my back and his mouth kissing my neck. I tilted my head back, a sight of pleasure escaping my lips as he was attacking my cleavage, and…

"Mommy! Daddy!"

Our son's voice made us part, completely breathless. I let go of a little frustrated laugh and pressed my forehead against Killian's shoulder, who grunted in frustration :

"That's the last time we're letting him eat sugar after 4 p.m." He mumbled, running his hand up and down my back.

"Mommy!" Liam insisted.

"I'm going." Killian decided, pulling away from me and I let go of a grunt as he was walking away.

"I'm waiting for you." I promised, seeing him crossing the door.

I waited for him to be out to collapse on the pillows, my hand on my face, saying to myself that my son couldn't have chosen a worst time to call us.

* * *

 **That's it for today, see you monday guys! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**thanks a lot to oncer4life11, Emilee Amethyst and Araya for the reviews! **

* * *

"Guess what?" I said, walking into the kitchen with a big smile on my face and I had to force myself to stay still and not start bouncing up and down in excitement.

"What?" Killian asked, turning to face me with a puzzled look and staring at me as if I had gone mad, which wasn't really surprising because I knew that my behavior was a bit weird even if I couldn't help myself.

"No sicknesses!" I cried out, overexcited by these news.

I had awakened feeling so good, which hadn't happened since the start of the pregnancy. I had managed to eat a breakfast and I hadn't been sick for the first time in weeks. It had put me in such a good mood I was feeling like laughing out loud. I was eight weeks pregnant, and even if my sicknesses had got better lately, it was the first time I wasn't throwing up in the morning. Being able to eat had made me surprisingly happy for something as normal and simple as that.

"Seriously?" He asked, smiling as he was walking toward me, looking as happy as I was.

"Yeah! And you know what that means? I can actually eat dinner! And I'm starving!"

His smile reached his eyes and he lifted up his hand so I could give him a high-five. He laughed and I wrapped my arms around his neck to pull him closer to me, giggling. Mi sicknesses were finally over, I could start living normally again. Having nausea every day was exhausting me so much, and I was so relieved this part of the pregnancy was behind me now.

"I'm so happy you're finally in good shape." Killian whispered, cupping my cheek as I was pulling away from him. "I was starting to worry."

"Starting? Come on, Jones, you're worrying since I threw up for the first time!" I gently scoffed, and he smiled at my comment.

"I'm certainly not going to apologize for worrying about you!" He replied, and I giggled once again. "I was just about to cook dinner for Liam. Do you want me to make you something?"

"It would be awesome!" I smiled, walking to lean against the kitchen's counter and fluffing Liam's hair as I was walking past him. "I'm really hungry."

"Do you want something in particular?" He asked gently, pressing a kiss on my forehead before reaching for the plate in the drawer in front of him.

"God, I have the biggest craving for sandwiches!"

"So sandwiches it shall be." He smiled.

He was looking genuinely happy to see me in such a good mood. I looked at him as he was taking the bread in the cupboard, and starting to make the dinner ready. I kept silence for a couple of seconds, smiling because the smell of the food was actually making my stomach rumble instead of making me sick, and I finally started to talk again to say :

"My parents haven't called yet?"

"Nope."

"That's strange, it's noon." I said with a frown. "They always call us in the morning. Perhaps they have given up, or something is happening right now but we don't know about it. Or maybe someone's had an idea about a _genius plan_ and they haven't called us yet because they know I'm going to destroy their theory."

"I can't tell if you're mocking your family or yourself." He stated with his eyebrows raised, looking amused by my comments.

"Honestly? Me neither." I admitted with a smile. "Anyway, they will probably call us soon enough."

"I'm hurrying up then."

"Wait, let me help you." I said, joining him so we could go faster. "I can't believe how good I'm feeling today. If the pregnancy could go on like that 'till the end..."

"I know, I'm really happy to see you in such a good mood, darling." He said, leaning to press a tender kiss on my temple.

We finished making the sandwiches, talking about nothing in particular, and we both sat face to face on the table. Liam started to cheer when he saw his meal in front of him, and that made me smile. I stared at my own lunch, hoping that I would finally be able to keep it in my stomach because I really wanted to eat. My son started to literally devour his food with a big smile, and Killian looked up to me with a worried look on his face.

"What's wrong? You're not eating? You're feeling sick again?"

"No, don't worry, I'm fine." I comforted him with half a smile. "I'm just asking my body to let me eat for once. It really looks like I'm going to fight this thing." I added, looking down at my lunch. "Emma versus the sandwich, soon in every theater."

He laughed and rolled his eyes, looking a bit perplexed by my unusual behavior. But he didn't seem to complain about my good mood, and was looking so happy I was finally feeling okay.

"Okay, let's go." I finally decided with a sight.

I pressed my hand against my still flat stomach and stroked it with my thumb, whispering :

"Please, let me eat, little one."

And without further ado, I grabbed the sandwich and started eating with appetite.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, I was still eating while Killian was washing the dishes in the sink. He suddenly looked away from the plate he was cleaning to glance at me with a bit of worry in his eyes :

"Love, be careful not to dine too much, okay?" He said gently as I was finishing my third sandwich. "You haven't eaten normally for weeks, I don't know if it's a good idea to eat so much all at once..."

"Please, don't ruin this moment." I replied, raising an eyebrow at him with my mouth still half full.

"I'm not saying this to annoy you." He laughed, walking to stand behind me and starting to play with my hair, and I let go of a content moan. "I'm just scared you're going to get sick."

"I have six weeks of meals to catch up." I objected with a smile. "Don't worry about me. I'll be okay."

"You're the boss, you know what's good for you." He said, pulling away from me, but a grabbed his wrist to prevent him from going anywhere.

"No wait! Please, don't go. You playing with my hair and the food, this is genuinely the best day of the month."

He laughed and my cellphone started to ring at that exact moment. I closed my eyes with a frustrated groan, knowing that this peaceful moment was over and we had to get back to work.

"I knew the day was going too well." I mumbled, a bit unhappy by this twist.

"This is probably your parents. I'll pick it up." Killian decided with a little sight.

He kissed the top of my head before pulling away from me, and I looked at him walking away with a disappointed pout.

* * *

Laying on my back on the living room couch, I was gently stroking Liam's hair, smiling because he was looking so adorable. My son had fallen asleep against me a few minutes earlier, and was breathing peacefully, cuddled into my arms. I was myself really tired, but I was fighting to stay awake : Killian was going to be ready in a couple of minutes, and we had to go to my parents'. It was Regina who had called us earlier, simply telling us that Harry, Ron and Hermione wanted to talk to us about a _brilliant idea_ that had just had, as I had guessed when they hadn't asked us to come sooner. If I was referring to the tone she had used to talk to us when Killian had put the phone on speaker mode, she didn't think that this idea was that good. She was actually sounding really annoyed and was looking like she had been forced to call us for that reason.

I heard Killian going down the stairs, but didn't get off the couch in order not to wake Liam up. I knew I had to eventually, but he was looking like an angel and I really wanted to give him some rest. I also had to admit I was really enjoying this unexpected hug, and I didn't want to break it right away.

"Swan?" Killian asked from the hallway, probably wondering where I was.

"In the living room." I said in a low voice, glancing at my son who luckily didn't wake up.

Killian walked into the room a few seconds later and stared at me, looking quite perplexed. He was probably surprised by the fact I was laying there while I knew we had to go. He approached me and placed his hand on my forehead as I was looking up to him with a little smile.

"Is something wrong, love? Are you feeling unwell?" He said in a worried tone, gently running his hand through my hair.

"I'm fine. I just ate too much." I admitted with a little pout, and that made him laugh.

"I told you so."

"Hey, I don't know when I'll be able to eat again, so I ate as much as I could." I defended myself with a little laugh.

"I would have done the same thing if I was in your shoes." He confessed with a gentle smile. "You ready? I can't wait to hear about this _wonderful_ idea."

I nodded and gently moved in order not to wake Liam up, a bit amused by Hook's comment. Killian, as the good gentleman he always was, reached for my hand to help me get up, and I quietly got on my feet. But Liam probably felt that I wasn't next to him anymore, and he sat down, rubbing his eyes, before saying in a sleepy voice :

"Mommy?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, sweetheart." I said, taking him into my arms and kissing his cheek to try and redeem myself.

He wrapped both his arms around my neck and buried his face in the crook of my shoulder. I turned back to look at Killian, gently stroking my son's back :

"We should go now, or he won't want to let me go when he'll be at Ashley's."

"You're right, let's go." He nodded, letting me walk before him.

"Can you take my jacket? I can't put it on with Liam in my arms." I asked, opening the door with my free hand.

"Perhaps you should wear it anyway." Killian said with a little wince. "I don't want you to get cold..."

"I'm not made out of glass, babe..."

"But you're pregnant!" He protested, following me in the yard.

"And I'll survive!" I replied as I was walking toward the car.

I heard Killian sighting behind my back and had to hold back a laugh.

* * *

"Okay." I started, pacing around my parents' living room. "What's that idea you want to talk to us about?"

We had just arrived at my parents' loft after driving Liam at Ashley's, and my friends were looking at me with their eyes widened as I was walking in the room. I was feeling too well to sit down and I wanted to enjoy this unexpected vitality. I was actually so energetic the loft was feeling too tiny for me.

"What's gotten into you?" Harry asked without answering my question.

"I'm just feeling really good today, that's all." I shrugged, seeing my parents smiling at each others from the corner of my eyes.

"That's a first." Ron added, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

"That's because you've never seen her when she's not sick" Killian intervened, playfully winking at me as I was giving him a falsely annoyed look.

"Enough about me." I changed the subject. "What's your plan?"

"Well..." Hermione started, straightening on the couch. "I've thought about it for a long time, and I've realized we have wands..."

"Very clever." Regina scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Don't pay attention to her." I said, glancing at my friend with a bit of annoyance because she wasn't letting the witch talk. "Go on."

"We can't open a portal with them, obviously, but I've thought that, as Regina and you have magical powers as well, maybe you could use our wands instead of the apprentice's..."

"That's stupid!" Regina cut her off. "That is never going to work, I know it! Your wands aren't made to open portals!"

"Regina, we don't know that." My mom said gently in order not to trigger our friend's anger. "Maybe we should give it a try. It doesn't cost us anything..."

"She's right." I stated with a little shrug. "We have nothing to lose. And maybe we will discover that this idea wasn't that stupid..."

"If you want to lose your time doing nothing, be my guests!" Regina cried out, obviously really mad about the fact I wasn't agreeing with her.

"Look." I sighted. "Do we have another solution right now? Seriously, can you imagine if it's actually working and we don't try this way? It will only take us five little minutes, and we will be able to know. Three minutes if you're agreeing with us, because it will be easier that way." I added, seeing that she wasn't ready to listen to us.

My friend waited for a few seconds before nodding slowly, but she still seemed really mad about the fact no one had listened to her. We decided to try the plan in Central Park. In case it would actually work, we didn't want an innocent citizen to be transported into another world. As I was walking down the stairs to go outside, Killian grabbed my elbow in the middle of a step.

"What's wrong?" I asked, surprised, turning back to face him.

He looked behind my shoulder to make sure we were alone. My friends didn't see us stop and resumed walking. I heard the front door opening as they were crossing it to go outside. When he was sure we were alone in the stairs, he looked straight into my eyes to say :

"Are you sure about this plan, Swan? It could be dangerous..."

"Come on, Hook!" I cried out, rolling my eyes, annoyed by his behavior. "We've talked about this! You've promised me you wouldn't start being overprotective again. And I'm careful, you know that! I want the baby to be in good shape too! And for the last time, I'm not sick!"

"I know." He sighted with a little smile to ease me. "I don't want to force you to do anything. And I know you love the little one as much as I do. But what I'm trying to say is that you have never used this type of magic before. I'm scared it will provoke things we're not expecting. Imagine if you fall in a portal with Harry, Ron and Hermione! We have no idea what could happen, and I don't want to lose you..."

"I know you're genuinely worried, and you're not doing that to annoy me. But I know magic, okay? I promise you I'll be careful. You have my words." I assured with a smile. "And Regina is right. There is almost no chance it will work. So calm down, okay? It's going to be all right."

"I know you're protesting, Swan, but I'm really concerned. And stop mocking me!" He added as I was laughing at his last comment because he was saying these words so often lately.

He shook his head, and I took his hand to join the others, who were waiting for us on the sidewalk. He didn't manage to keep his falsely upset look, and started gently stroking my hand with his thumb.

"What were you two doing in the stairs?" Regina asked in a suspicious tone.

"Jus talking about the technical details of the plan." I answered in a purposely mysterious voice, and she rolled her eyes once again. "We going?"

They all nodded at the same time, and we started to walk toward Central Park, wanting to believe in this improbable solution

* * *

"I can't believe it didn't work!" Hermione whimpered, sitting in the grass, her face in her hands. "How are we going to get home, now?"

"We'll find a solution. We always do." Ron tried to comfort her, looking deeply sad, his arm wrapped around her shoulder.

We had tried to open a portal, but as we had expected, it hadn't worked. The three wizards seemed completely desperate. Harry hadn't talked since our failure, staring at the blank in front of him, and Hermione was now quietly crying. Regina, at my biggest surprise, didn't seem happy at all because she had been right, but was looking genuinely sad for our friends. I was myself sitting on the ground, cross-legged, and was trying to think about a solution, but nothing was coming and it was driving me crazy. I was so focused I was barely hearing my mom, who was trying to reassure the wizards and tell them everything would be okay at the end. An idea finally came to my mind, and I cried out, overexcited by the fact I had found something :

"Wait, I know what to do!"

"What?" Hermione and my mom asked at the same time, both surprised by my words.

"I can show you your family with my magic if you want to!" I offered, wondering why I hadn't thought about this possibility sooner. "It won't make you go home, but you'll be able to see what's happening in your world..."

"Wait, you can talk to them?" Harry asked, looking as if he was coming back to life.

"No, I can't, I'm sorry." I said with a little wince. "But I can show you how they are. I just need a mirror and something belonging to them, and you'll be able to see them. I know it doesn't help, but..."

"It's better than nothing." Hermione said, letting go of a little sob as Ron was embracing her gently.

"We could do it tomorrow, what do you think? And meanwhile, we will keep looking for a solution, okay?"

They nodded, still looking a bit sad, even if they seemed to be a bit comforted by my offer. I looked up to meet Killian's gaze, and he placed his hand on my shoulder. I was feeling really sorry for them, and I was hoping that seeing the people they loved would make them feel a little bit better. We wouldn't give up on them. We would manage to send them back home. Everything would be okay at the end, I knew it.


	10. Chapter 10

**Thanks to oncer4life11 and Emilee Amethyst for the reviews! This is a much darker chapter, so I hope you won't hate me too much at the end hehe x)**

* * *

"Emma! Wake up, love..."

I hardly awakened, triggered by Killian's voice. I opened my eyes, surprised to notice they were a bit painful, and the ceiling started to spin above my head. I closed my eyelids back, trying to escape the unpleasant dizziness. Seeing the ceiling moving so fast was making me feel sick. I was feeling like throwing up, and it was not a very good way to wake up. When I finally decided to open my eyes again, I saw Killian sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning forward to stare at me, looking deeply worried.

"Are you okay? You were whimpering in your sleep..." He asked, his surprisingly cold hand on my arm.

I didn't answer right away and sat down with a little grunt. My head was feeling heavy and I had a terrible migraine. My throat and my stomach were painful. My vision was a bit blurry, and I couldn't really see what was around me. My lungs were aching as well and I was feeling as if a giant had decided to sit down on my chest. I placed my hand on my forehead and winced, realizing that I was running a fever.

"I think I got sick." I finally said in a husky voice, my mind completely foggy.

Killian frowned at my words and landed his hand on my head before removing it quickly when he realized how ill I was. He shook his head, looking utterly worried. Since we had gotten together, I had only been sick a handful of times. I was usually very resistant, but this time, I was feeling really bad. I was already feeling a cold sweat covering my forehead, and laboriously swallowed to chase away the lump in my throat.

"You're burning up!" He cried out, running his hand through my hair before cupping my cheek, looking very concerned. "Lay back in bed, you need to rest. I'm going to call Whale..."

"I can't" I said in a slurred speech, my head getting even more painful as I was hearing my own voice. "Harry, Ron and Hermione are coming today. I can't push back what we've promised them once again."

I had told them I was able to show them their family a week ago, but I had been forced to postpone the appointment several times. I knew I couldn't make them wait any longer. They were dying to see their kids, it was normal after all. I really wanted to help them, but I hadn't had a choice. Liam had gotten pretty sick, and Killian and I had stayed home the entire week to take care of him. He was now more than fine, but obviously, it wasn't my case. I had probably gotten his cold, and knowing how bad my son had felt for a while, the days that were going to follow were not going to be very pleasant.

"I probably have the same thing Liam's had." I added, rubbing my eyes without managing to wake me up completely. "It's not a big deal. I'll be okay."

"Swan, you can't use your powers in these conditions!" Killian shouted, looking outraged by my words.

I winced. The ache in my head had gotten even stronger because of his words pronounced a bit too loud for me. I got up, trying to show him I was in good shape and I was able to help our friends. I walked three steps with somewhat shaky legs, but I got dizzy again, and I almost fell down on the floor. Luckily, I grabbed my night table in time to stay on my feet, trying to keep my balance.

"Emma!" Hook said, wrapping his arm around my waist to help me. "That's not reasonable, and you know it. You can't even stay on your feet!"

"I don't need to walk to use my magic. Let me help them. It's all I ask for. After that, I will go see Whale if you want me to." I promised, ignoring the little voice in the back of my head screaming that I should have listened to Killian.

"You won't change your mind, will you?" He guessed, looking desperate by my behavior.

I shook my head and he sighted because of my stubbornness, looking at me as if I was going to fall over on the ground – which wasn't that impossible because I was feeling very weak.

* * *

I was laying on my side on the living room couch, my legs bent against my chest and I was wrapped in three blankets to keep warm. Despite the heat of the sheets, I was absolutely freezing, and I shivered. I was trying to stay awake, I was really tired, but I knew the three wizards would be at my place very soon and I couldn't fall asleep. If I decided to give up and close my eyes now, I wouldn't be able to wake up again, I knew it, and I needed the little strength I still had in me to use my powers. I placed my hand on my forehead, realizing that my fever had gone even stronger. If it didn't stop really soon, I would probably find myself at the hospital before the end of the day.

"You okay, mom?" Henry asked, squatting in front of me to look at me carefully. "Do you want something? Hot cocoa with cinnamon, maybe?"

"That's sweet, kid." I answered, forcing myself to smile in order not to worry him too much. "But I'm fine, I'm not dying.'

"I don't mean to upset you, but seeing how you look, you seem really sick."

"Thanks, Henry. That's really comforting." I replied in a husky voice, even if I knew he was saying those words to make me smile and not to make me feel bad about myself.

He smiled at my comment and the doorbell rang, making me wince because of the noise. Henry walked away from me to open the door, and I heard Killian heading for the hallway a few seconds later to greet the guests. Their voices were too low for me to understand them, and I was too tired to listen more carefully. I shivered once again, and buried my face in one of the blanket to try and keep a little bit warm. I was so cold. I was usually very resistant to these kind of things, and I knew it was nothing more than a stupid cold, but I was feeling like I was going to die. But I was certainly not going to tell these thoughts out loud. I was sick, not crazy. Killian was already way too worried for me without adding these words to his concern.

"Emma..." My mom's voice started above my head, and I looked up to realize she was staring at me with worry. "Jesus, Hook wasn't lying when he told us you were sick."

"I'll be all right." I protested in a weak voice, my face still half-covered by my blankets.

"You don't look like it." Killian sighted, Liam in his arms. "I'm not sure it's a good idea… Are you certain you don't want to postpone? I don't want you to get even sicker. It's dangerous." He added while staring at me to make me understand he was also scared for the baby.

"Again?!" Hermione shouted with anger. "You're going to do this every time, aren't you? Why have you promised us something if you can't even keep your words?"

I closed my eyes, my headache getting stronger at her voice. I was actually getting why she was so mad. She just wanted to see her kids, and we were postponing the appointment every single time. Beside, she was thinking I was just a little ill, she didn't know I was pregnant and she could be feeling like I was exaggerating. She didn't wanted to do me wrong by yelling like this, I knew it.

"Hermione!" My dad cried out in an outraged tone. "Can't you see how sick she is?"

"It's only a cold, stop worrying about nothing!" Ron shouted, taking his wife's side.

"Stop yelling." I said in a low voice to make them quiet. "I told you you were going to see your kids, and I'm going to do it."

I sat down, getting dizzy and nauseous again as I was settling on the couch, my blankets still wrapped around me. A new shiver made my teeth clash into my mouth and I buried my face in the plaid to give myself some strength. It would be over soon, and I was going to get back in bed and sleep until I was feeling better. It was only a difficult time, but it would pass. I could do it. I couldn't let the wizards down again.

"I'll be okay." I repeated, looking at Killian as he was staring at me, biting his lower lip in worry.

He didn't answer anything, but he gave Liam to Henry and reached for my hand to help me get up, knowing that I couldn't get on my feet by myself without me having to tell him anything.

I walked toward the mirror hanging in the living room, Killian right behind me. My legs were feeling weak and were shaking quite violently, and I was scared I was going to pass out before being able to help my friends. I glanced at my reflexion, but looked away quite quickly. I was so pale, my eyes seemed a bit blank and I had huge bags under them. Killian placed his hand on the small of my back, probably scared because he knew I could faint. His presence was giving me courage. I blinked several times to see better, and turned back to look at Harry, who handed me a Brazilian bracelet hanging at a key-chain.

"My daughter gave it to me a few years ago. It should work, right? Our families must be together, it's Easter and the kids are probably in the Burrow..."

I nodded slowly and squeezed the wristband in my palm. My hands were shaking too. I closed my eyes to try and focus. Despite my headache and my weakness, I felt my powers awakening in me, and used all the strength I still had to make my magic work. But I could feel that something was wrong, and when I opened my eyes, I saw that nothing had happened.

"I'm sorry." I said, shaking my hands to try and wake me up a bit. "I'm feeling bad, so my magic isn't working as usual. I can do it. Just let me try again."

"Swan, don't try to play hero." Killian whispered, his grip tightening around my waist.

I felt Hermione starting to move behind me and didn't answer anything. I couldn't give up on them. I focused on Killian's touch and squeezed the bracelet in my fist, trying to contact the other world. Finally, after a few seconds, a low noise started to ring in the room and Hermione gasped in my back.

I opened my eyes, my vision still blurry, and I realized my reflexion had disappeared. A big yard had appeared in the mirror, in the middle of which was standing a strange house, so crooked it was looking like it could start crumbling under a gust of wind. A few people were sitting around a table in the garden, all quiet and sad. A young woman with red hair was holding a little girl who seemed really desperate. An older woman, the same hair as the girl I knew was her daughter, was hugging a little boy. Three teenagers, two boys and a girl, were looking at each others above the table. They were all looking so worried and their sadness hit me like a punch in the face.

"My god..." Hermione whispered in a shaky voice.

"Do you think something bad has happened?" The teenage girl suddenly asked, breaking the heavy silence.

"No!" The older woman shouted. "Don't say those kind of things, Rose. Your parents are all right, as Harry is. I'm sure of it. They always survive. It can't be otherwise."

"I want mom and dad back." The little boy said with a pout.

"I know, Hugo, we all want them back." The teenage boy with green eyes answered with a surprising calm.

"They'll come back eventually." The oldest teenager assured, looking very confident about his statement. "I know it. We're talking about my father, here! He won against Voldemort. He's going to make it, believe me."

"You're right, James." The young woman said, her eyes shinning fiercely. "We can't lose hope..."

She was going to add something, but the image between us suddenly froze and the colors started to mix together, forming an inconsistent and a bit scary set. I had probably used all of my strength, because I was feeling very, very bad. I was about to throw up, and my vision got so much darker I couldn't really tell where I was anymore. My stomach was painful and I lurched, a bit surprised by the violence of my sickness.

"What's happening?" Ron's voice asked, sounding a bit distorted.

"Swan, you all right?"

My legs weren't able to bear my weight anymore, and I almost fell, but Killian grabbed me before I hit the ground. He almost carried me to the couch, and I laid back down in fetal position, my back turned to my family so they couldn't see my eyes filled in with tears. Every inches of my body was aching, and I was feeling like I was going to die if someone wasn't doing something to make me feel better. I felt my mom placing her hand on my forehead and she gasped :

"Emma! You're burning up!"

"That's it, I'm calling Whale." Killian decided in a shaky voice.

I was about to tell him it was a good idea, but a violent and sudden pain in my lower abdomen made me whimper. I placed both of my arms against my stomach, hoping that it was going to erase the horrible pain in it. I was feeling like I was burning from the inside. I felt hot tears starting to stream down my face. I hadn't expected that, and I was feeling like screaming because I couldn't think straight anymore.

"Emma!" Several voices called me, but I couldn't tell who had talked.

"Talk to me, baby." Killian said in a broken voice, running his hand through my hair. "What's happening? Where does it hurt?"

I started panting and forced myself to talk, because I knew he couldn't help me if I didn't tell him what was going on :

"My stomach..."

"Bloody Hell..." He whispered in fear.

"I'm calling an ambulance." My father stated.

He rushed into the kitchen to call the hospital, and Ron said in a perplexed tone :

"I don't get it, what's happening? It's just a cold. You don't have to call an ambulance for that..."

"Shut the fuck up!" Hook yelled, his hand still in my neck to try and calm my fever down a bit. "If you hadn't forced her to use her bloody magic, none of this would have happened..."

"But I don't understand, it's just a stomachache..." Hermione said, sounding a bit afraid because of Killian's tone.

"Fuck, she's sick! She's..."

"… Already in bad shape lately." Regina cut him off, guessing that he was going to tell them about the pregnancy, and even if I couldn't really think clearly, I felt grateful because I didn't want them to learn the truth like that. "She's sick every day. You can't even imagine how bad this could be."

I was so afraid I could barely breathe. Having such a horrible pain in the lower stomach couldn't be a good sign while being pregnant. I hadn't expected to have another baby, sure, but I couldn't lose my child. I couldn't stand that possibility. I loved this kid so much already, it couldn't die. It just couldn't, it was impossible.

 _Please, I just want it to be all right…_

"Killian, I..."

I stopped in the middle of my sentence, my teeth clashing in my mouth because of the pain. I forced myself to turn on my other side to face Hook, a sob obstructing my throat. He was looking like he was holding back his own tears. My stomach was aching so much it was feeling like I was dying.

"We have to take Liam somewhere else… I don't want… I don't want him to see me like that." I panted.

"I'm staying here with you." He said gently, his fingers stroking my wet cheek, and I could see he was about to start crying. "Henry, take your brother with you and go to the kitchen."

"I'm not leaving this room while my mom is in pain!" My son protested defiantly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Henry… Please… Killian is right. I don't want you to be there if… something happens." I sobbed, not managing to keep breathing normally.

"I won't move!" My son stated, shaking his head to show me he was not going to listen to me. "I won't leave you, mom..."

"I'm going." Regina then decided, taking Liam from Henry's arms to take him away from all this mess.

"Take the three others with you too." Hook said coldly. "I don't know what I'm going to do if they stay here."

The wizards glanced at him, not understanding why he was so mad at them and a bit shocked because of Killian's words. Regina nodded, gesturing toward Harry, Ron and Hermione so they followed her. As she was heading for the kitchen, I heard Liam starting to whine :

"I wanna stay with mommy and daddy..."

"I know, but they are busy for now." Regina answered gently. "You're going to stay with me for a little while, okay?"

My mom looked behind the couch to make sure the wizards couldn't hear us anymore, and she squatted in front of me, whispering gently :

"Emma, do you think something's wrong with the baby?"

"I don't know." I choked on my own tears. "I don't know!"

"Shhh, sweetheart, calm down." Killian said in a broken voice. "Breathe, it's okay..."

"I'm.. I'm so scared." I stuttered, my mind not working correctly because of the pain and the fever.

"I know, darling. I'm scared too."

He cupped my face and I reached for his hook to squeeze it between my fingers, still sobbing so hard I couldn't breathe anymore. My dad, who had finished his call, placed his hand in my hair, and Henry came to kneel next to my mom, looking deeply worried.

And in the perfect quiet only interrupted by my panting, we waited for the ambulance to arrive, the fear so strong in the room it seemed like the air was whimpering.

* * *

 **Okay, that's it for today! I'm sorry for this little cliffhanger, I hope you won't hate me too much after that x) you'll see what's happened to Emma and the baby on Monday!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks a lot to Arwen4eva, oncer4life11, Ana and Araya for the reviews! Sorry for the feels of the last chapter, I promise this one doesn't end badly! x)**

* * *

The ambulance finally arrived outside of our house, its alarm ringing loudly, after what seemed like an eternity. I was continuing to sob uncontrollably, and my stomach was still hurting like hell. I was forcing myself not to start yelling with the little strength I still had in me. I was so scared something would happen to the baby. I couldn't lose it, I would go crazy, I knew it.

Killian was knelt on the floor next to me. I was still tightly holding his hook, and he had taken my free hand in his. He was about to start crying, but I could see he wanted to be strong for me. His presence was actually helping me a lot. He was preventing me from going crazy. As always, it was enough for him to be nearby to make me feel a little bit better. He gently freed his hand from my grip when he heard the ambulance, and he leaned forward to kiss my forehead. He whispered in a broken voice, gently stroking my cheek :

"I'm going to carry you to the ambulance, okay?"

I nodded without answering out loud. The pain was too strong for me to say something coherent. I knew I was unable to walk and I didn't even think about protesting. It was aching way too much. Killian turned back to look at my parents and he asked :

"Could you watch Liam for me while we're gone?"

"Don't worry about that." My dad assured, anxiously biting the inside of his cheek. "We'll join you at the hospital later."

"Hang in there, honey. It's going to be over soon, I promise." My mom said gently, pressing a kiss on my still burning forehead.

Hook approached me, and I forced myself to straighten a little bit and wrapped my arms around his neck to make things easier for him. He lifted me up as if I was light as a feather, and I whimpered from the pain, my jaw clenched to stifle my sobs. The gesture had awakened the pain in my stomach. It was now worse than ever, and a tear streamed down my face as I was feeling like I was going to faint.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart. It's going to be okay, I promise." Killian said, kissing my temple as if he wanted to apologize.

I pulled myself closer to him and buried my face into the crook of his neck, hoping that it would be over soon and that I was going to arrive to the hospital the quicker possible. Everything would be okay. Killian was right. He had said that everything would fall into place, and he was never lying to me. I couldn't miscarry, I just couldn't.

He carried me outside with somewhat hesitant steps, walking slowly in order not to hurt me too much. He knew the movements were worsening my pain, and he was very careful about avoiding to make me suffer. I was holding him close, trying to stay conscious. Everything seemed blurry around me, and the pain was still tearing up my stomach. I was scared, I was in pain, and I was thinking I should never have agreed on using my powers in my condition. I should have listened to Killian. If something happened to the baby, it would only be my fault. I hated myself so much for that, I couldn't hurt my child. I would never recover if it died because of me.

The ambulance was parked in front of the house. Killian gently placed me on the stretcher, and the paramedics took me in charge immediately. All these heads moving around me were making me dizzy. I closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down a little bit, knowing that the panic was only worsening the pain. In the fog that had taken over my mind, I vaguely heard an unfamiliar voice saying :

"We're going to give her painkillers."

"She's pregnant, isn't it dangerous for the baby?" Killian asked in a worried voice.

"It's better to avoid taking medication during the pregnancy, but given the circumstances, we prefer to stop the pain right away. I'm not sure she will stay conscious much longer in her state."

"All right, then." Hook said in a muffled voice. "You know what you're doing."

I felt a slight pinch in my right arm and tried to breathe slowly, hoping that the drugs were going to work. After a few more seconds, finally the relief. I sighted loudly, feeling all my muscles relaxing all at once. I opened my eyes again. Everything was blurry because of the fear and the painkillers. I was feeling like I was floating outside of my own body, and even if the sensation was a bit strange, I wasn't complaining about it. At least I wasn't in pain anymore. The ambulance was already driving, and Killian approached me to take my hand. I saw that his last defenses had broken and his face was drenched because of his tears :

"Are you feeling better?" He asked with great gentleness.

I pressed a hand on my forehead. I didn't know what they had given me, but I was feeling like my fever had already decreased a bit. It was a good thing, really, because I was so warm a few minutes ago I had been on the edge of passing out several times. Given my state, it was actually a miracle I had stayed conscious the entire time.

"I'm fine." I said in a husky voice. "I just hope… I hope the baby's okay."

"Me too." He said, blinking, and a lonely tear ran down his face.

I lifted my hand up and reached for his face to wipe off his tears, hurt to see him so worried. The movement asked me so much efforts, and I felt my head falling on its side without being able to control it. I was already feeling my eyes closing because of the medication they had given me. But I was so scared to fall asleep in case something happened. And I wanted to comfort Killian. If I was falling asleep, he couldn't talk to me anymore to make sure I was okay, and I was afraid it would worry him even more.

"You can rest, love." He said, answering my thoughts without me having to say anything. "I'm staying right here next to you, I promise."

I didn't even have enough strength left to answer him. I let the hand that was cupping his face fall, and it landed on my stomach. As I was falling into a dreamless sleep, I heard him telling me he was loving me so much and I would make it, as always.

* * *

The first thing I heard were voices I wasn't managing to discriminate from each other. They became more and more real as I was waking up from my sleep. I ended up opening my eyes, and the neon light above my bed blinded me for a second. I was laying in a hospital bed, but I needed a few seconds to reassemble the last events in my foggy mind. I was so tired it was difficult for me to think, and the drugs they had given me weren't improving my state.

"Emma? Can you hear me, darling?"

I turned my head on my side to look at Hook, who had talked in a low voice. He was sitting on the edge of the bed beside me, and was holding my hand, gently stroking my skin with his thumb. He was still looking horribly worried. I finally recalled what had happened earlier, and I said in a slurred speech, still half-asleep :

"The baby. Is the baby okay?"

"We don't know yet, love." He answered gently. "They're going to take you for an ultrasound in a few minutes."

"How are you feeling?" My mom's familiar voice asked, coming from the opposite side of the room.

I turned back to look at her, surprised to see her there. My dad was sitting on the windowsill, my mom was settled on a chair next to him, and Henry was staring at me with worry in his eyes from the table on which he was leaning. I hadn't expected to see them there as we had left them at home, and I asked without answering my mom's question:

"What are you all doing here? Where is Liam?"

"We left him with Regina and Robin. He's with the other kids, we wanted to avoid taking him to the hospital with us. It's too much stress for a little guy of his age." My dad said in a comforting tone, but I could see that deep down, he was terrified as well. "Don't worry, he couldn't be in better hands."

"Thanks, it's the best you could do." I answered, relieved that Liam was safe and placing my hand on my forehead to realize my fever was almost completely gone.

"Does it hurt somewhere?" Killian worried, letting go of my hand to press his on my face and make sure I wasn't burning up anymore.

"No, I'm fine. The painkillers are doing their job. I just want to know if the baby is okay."

The fear was crushing my stomach, and I didn't know if I was going to start crying or yelling from the distress. I was feeling sick, and was trying hard not to start sobbing again. Killian nodded, looking very concerned, and intertwined our fingers together. I knew he was feeling the same way I was without him having to tell his fear out loud.

We stayed in a worried silence for a couple of minutes, me too tired to talk, my loved ones afraid to say something that would trigger a panic attack in me. Killian and I felt so connected in our fear of two parents who had maybe lost their child, and there wasn't any place left for anyone else. Finally, I saw the door opening and Whale came in, pushing a wheelchair. He looked at me with concern as he was approaching the bed :

"Good, you're awake. How are you feeling?" He asked, frowning.

"I'm fine." I said hastily, just wanting to go and know if the baby was alive. "Can we do the ultrasound, now?"

"I'm taking you there right away." He nodded, gesturing to show me I had to sit down in the chair.

I got up with Killian's help and settled on the wheelchair, trying to find a comfortable position as Hook was making sure I was all right. Despite what I had told my family in order not to worry them, I was still a bit in pain, and the drugs they had given me were making me dizzy now that I wasn't laying anymore. Without Killian's support I would have probably fainted, actually.

"Are you okay?" Killian whispered, his hand in my hair.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to hide my pain, nodding vaguely. I just wanted to know if my kid was alive. For now, it was all that mattered. If I had told them I was feeling bad, I was scared they would have started asking me questions while all I wanted was making sure that the little one was all right. I was less important.

"I won't lie to you, it's an unusual situation." Whale started talking again after a few minutes of silence as he was pushing me in the hospital's maze of white corridors.

"Do you think it's bad?" Hook asked, walking beside me and looking particularly nervous.

"I don't know." Whale admitted with a little sight. "I think her magic asked her to do too much efforts, and she has drawn into her stored energy to use it. The stomachache can be there because she has used her vital organs' strength. We're just hoping it hasn't touched the baby."

I closed my eyes, trying to stop the sob I was feeling in my throat from crossing my lips. It was only my fault. I should have listened to Killian. But I was too damn stubborn, as always. I should never have obeyed to to the wizards. If my baby was dead…

"Killian, I..." I started in a muffled voice.

"Don't you dare apologize." He cut me off, guessing what I was going to tell him before I said it out loud. "It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself."

I nodded and didn't say anything, a bit comforted by his words. At least he wasn't mad at me, even if he should probably have been. I placed a hand on my stomach, silently talking to the baby. _Please, hold on there. Don't leave me. Forgive me for what I've done to you, but stay alive. I can't lose you._

We finally arrived in the examination room, and I managed to lay down on the cold table with Killian's help, who lifted me up from the ground to prevent me from doing any efforts. My heart started to pound loudly and painfully in my chest. I looked up to meet Killian's gaze, tears forming in my eyes. If Whale was telling us our baby was dead…

Hook took my hand, and I squeezed it hard to give me strength. I knew he was as scared as I was, but he was trying to hide it, he wanted to be strong for me. But I could see he was terrified because of his fast breathing and his eyes shinning with sadness and dread. We were already loving that baby so much. It couldn't be dead. It was a survivor, as its parents.

I lifted my t-shirt up, divulging my stomach, which was slightly curved. It had started to get a bit rounder a few days earlier, but the change was invisible if we didn't pay attention to it. I bit my lower lip, telling myself with a lump in my throat that this roundness was maybe the only change I would have the chance to ever notice.

I shivered. It was cold in the room and I was scared. I tightened my grip around Killian's hand when Whale approached the ultrasound probe from my stomach. I closed my eyes, trying to get ready for the worst. If I wasn't hearing the heart… It meant it was dead, and it was all my fault despite what Killian had told me. He wasn't blaming me for what was happening because he loved me, but he was wrong. If it was dead, I had killed it and I could only blame myself.

I barely startled when the cold gel touched my skin. I felt the probe moving on my stomach, right underneath my belly-button. There was quiet for an endless second, and I almost started to yell. So, it was over, then? Just like that? Our baby was dead and there was nothing we could do about it?

But finally, a regular and fast heartbeat started to ring against the room's walls. I opened my eyes and started to breathe again. I hadn't even noticed I was holding my breath. I looked up to see Killian, who was looking so relieved as well. It was alive, and I could see he was as happy as I was about it. It was alive, and if it hadn't been hurt by my stupidity, this horrible day would soon become a bad memory.

"It's okay." Whale finally said after a few more seconds. "It's in perfect shape."

I gasped from the relief, and started to cry immediately. It was fine, it was alive. I had been so scared I had lost it. I whimpered, putting my free hand on my stomach, trying to calm myself down as a hot flush was making me dizzy.

Whale took the probe away from me, and I let go of Killian's hand to press my fingers against my mouth and stifle the uncontrollable sobs that were shaking my shoulders. I had been so terrified, and crying was allowing me to get rid of all this fear. But I seemed unable to stop and calm down. I was feeling my heart pounding so fast in my chest, it could break my ribs if it didn't stop.

"Everything's all right." Killian said gently, chasing one of my hair strand that had fallen in front of my eyes away from my face. "Calm down, love, it's okay..."

"I was… So scared." I panted, unable to breathe properly.

Whale seemed to notice the state of panic I was in, because he took my wrist to take my pulse with a frown. After a few seconds, he finally said as I was still breathing way too fast and irregularly :

"Her heart is beating way too quickly, she's having a panic attack."

"Is it bad?" Killian asked, utterly worried. "Shh" He added, gently stroking my cheek to try and comfort me. "Breathe, baby, everything's okay..."

"She's had too many conflicting emotions all at once. You've both lived a horrible day. I'm going to give her a tranquilizer. We can't leave her like that."

I didn't answer anything, barely realizing what they were saying. My chest was hurting because my heart was beating so fast. All the emotions I had had in a few hours were going out of me now all at once, they were crashing inside my brain and crying was the only way for me to get rid of them.

I saw Whale put something in my catheter, and after only a few seconds, everything became blurry. I stopped crying, a bit surprised by this change, and I felt my head fall on my side as I was falling asleep again.

* * *

I opened my eyes and blinked several times to get used to the darkness that was surrounding me. I glanced at the window to realize it was pitch-black outside. I sighted and placed my hand on my stomach. I was still feeling a bit sick, and I was pretty sure my fever was back, but my belly wasn't hurting anymore. The baby was all right. It was all that mattered.

A movement on my right side made me turn my head, and I had a small smile when I saw Killian. He had fallen asleep next to me, his head resting on his arms. He was looking like he was slowly waking up, and I guessed he had probably heard me sighting. I hold my breath for a second to see if he was going to fall back asleep. He needed to rest after all, he had lived quite a day as well. But he looked up after a few seconds, rubbing his eyes with his hand, and I smiled once again because he was looking so adorable. He didn't notice I was awake right away, and it's only a couple of seconds later that he met my eyes. He immediately took my hand in his and asked in a low voice :

"Are you okay, beautiful? How are you feeling?"

"I feel fine." I said with a small smile to try and comfort him because he was looking very worried.

"You've scared me to death." He stated gently, stroking my hand with his thumb in relief when he saw I was well and talking.

"I'm so sorry." I said sheepishly. "To be honest, I've scared myself pretty good too. My parents aren't there?"

"They went home to spend the night with Neal. Liam is with them. They'll come tomorrow morning so we can see him. It isn't aching anymore?"

"No." I said, trying to stay calm as I was drowning in my own emotions. "But I think my fever is back, though."

I was so relieved the baby was okay, and I was feeling guilty for scaring my parents and Killian so much. I was exhausted because of all these events, and I wanted to sleep, but for some reason, I was afraid something bad would happen again, and I was feeling like crying.

"It's true, you're a bit warm." Hook said in worry after placing his hand on my forehead. "Do you want me to call a nurse so we give you some more painkillers?"

"No, it's fine." I refused in a muffled voice. "I don't want something to happen to the baby because of all these drugs."

"Whale said he wanted to keep you in the hospital for a few days, to make sure you and the baby were all right. I said I agreed with this, I'm sorry I haven't waited for your opinion..."

"You did good." I cut him off, trying to hold back my tears but it was getting harder and harder.

"What's wrong, darling?" He asked, guessing that something was off with me.

I couldn't resist any longer and started to cry again. I tried to stop, but just couldn't and I felt ashamed of myself. I had cried way too much in a day. I had to stop now, it was stupid.

 _You damn hormones, why wouldn't you leave me alone?_

"Oh, baby." Killian said, gently cupping my cheek to comfort me, looking deeply hurt by my tears.

"I'm so sorry." I sobbed. "I don't even know why I'm crying."

"Don't apologize, love. After what we've lived today, it's normal to cry." He answered gently.

I nodded, and seeing that I wasn't calming down, he ended up laying on the bed next to me and taking me into his arms. The bed was too small for the both of us, but I didn't care. I was actually able to hold him close, and it was helping me a lot. I buried my face into the crook of his neck while he was stroking my hair and whispering to my ear he was loving me so much and I was the strongest woman he had ever met. His voice was comforting, and I managed to calm down after a long while.

"Thanks." I said, feeling one last tear streaming down my face.

"You don't have to thank me. It's not completely selfless." He whispered with a little smile. "I'm really happy to feel you close to me. Never do such a thing to me again, promise?"

"I'll try." I said, cuddling a little bit closer to his chest as he was giving me a trail of little kisses down my face and in my neck.

His heart pounding in his chest rocking me, I ended up falling asleep, finally reassured.

* * *

 **See? I've been nice this time! Hope you liked this chapter, and see you Friday! :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Thanks to oncer4life11, Emilee Amethyst, Araya and victoriaannsmith2001 for the reviews! The next chapters are going to be a lot less dark, until chapter 16 that is going to be very eventful. I hope you'll like it!**

* * *

"Lad, I'm sorry to ask you that, really, but be careful not to hurt Liam, okay?" Killian said to my son in a worried tone.

"Who do you think I am?!' Henry replied, looking outraged by his words. "I can take care of him! Mom, tell him I'm careful!"

"Which one?"

Regina and I had answered at the same time and we burst out laughing. This family tree was definitely way too complicated, and we were getting lost sometimes, but I was actually finding it quite funny now that I was used to it. Henry didn't look really happy by our laughter, and he stopped playing with his brother to answer, looking deeply annoyed by our behavior:

"Both"

"Without wanting to annoy you, Henry, because we know you're a wonderful big brother, you forget how strong you are sometimes. He's still very little, you know..."

"It's like you don't even trust me!" My son cried out, looking deeply upset by Regina's words.

"Don't look at us like that, kid." I smiled, not really impressed by his expression because I knew it would get better very soon, as my son was never staying in a bad mood for long. "Of course we trust you. Liam has the best big brother in the world."

He seemed comforted by my words and resumed gently tickling his brother in the corner of the room. The small hospital room was brightened by the conversation noises. I was sitting cross-legged on my bed, and couldn't help but smile, realizing how many people were caring about me and had come to see me while I was at the hospital. Regina and Robin were talking with Killian, who was sitting on a chair next to my bed. He had almost never left my side since I had gotten here. My parents were coming every day, and were going to join us in a matter of minutes. The little girl who thought no one could ever love her was surrounded by wonderful people, now. I felt a little pinch of happiness in my chest thinking that my past as an orphan was way behind me, and I had now everything to be happy.

I had arrived at the hospital five days ago, and I was really hoping I would be allowed to go home soon. I was feeling way better, and my stomach who had rounded just a little bit these past few days was telling me that the baby was more than okay as well. I just wanted to go back to my house with Killian and the kids, because I knew I wasn't risking anything anymore. Killian had literally camped at the hospital, just going home to spend the night with Liam, leaving my side as late as possible and coming back when the sun had not even risen in the sky yet. I was actually not awake most of the time when he was not in the hospital, and was waking up to his presence beside me every morning. He was so sweet and supportive, and I was so happy to have him near me, always.

I was however pretty worried to know that my sons were staying at the hospital most of the time. It wasn't a good place for children to be. But with a bit of luck, Whale was going to give me permission to leave the hospital soon, and I was going to be able to live my life again. I just couldn't wait for it to happen.

Three knocks suddenly rang on the door, and I turned my head to see my parents coming into the already crowded room. My dad was holding Neal in his arms and said with a huge smile :

"We brought someone with us"

My little brother wriggled until my father put him back on the ground, and he ran toward the bed, climbing on it with Killian's help, who was laughing seeing the little boy's eagerness. When he finally arrived next to me, he wrapped his arms around me and giggled, saying :

"Emma, I've missed you!"

It was the first time he was coming to visit me since I had gotten here, and he was looking so happy to finally be in my arms. I hadn't wanted him to see me when I was still feeling sick, but now that everything was okay, I was happy he was there. I embraced him gently and glanced at my mom behind the little boy's shoulder. She was looking so moved by Neal's reaction and by the fact we were getting along with each others. She smiled and explained :

"He's the one who's wanted to come here"

"I wanted to see you." He nodded, leaving his little arms wrapped around me.

"Aw, well, I've missed you too, Neal." I said with a big smile, moved by how cute my brother was.

"You're sick?" He asked with a frown, losing his smile to look at me carefully as if he wanted to make sure I was okay.

"I was." I corrected gently, not wanting to concern him too much. "But I'm better now. I feel great, I promise."

"You'll go home soon, then?"

"Yeah, I will. And I promise you we'll do something just the two of us when I'll be out of here, okay?"

He nodded enthusiastically and let go of me but stayed cuddled against my chest. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders to hold him closer, and looked back at my family as my brother was smiling, looking so happy to have me back by his side. I let go of a little laugh when I realized my parents didn't know how to stand because the room was too small for all of us. Everyone seemed pretty awkward in the little space, and I said with an amused smile :

"They really should build bigger rooms. Everyone is related in this town, they should have realized that by now."

My comment made my family laugh. They all seemed to agree with me because they really didn't seem that comfortable at the moment. I laughed at my own joke, but I regained seriousness pretty quickly to say :

"Are Harry, Ron and Hermione okay?"

Killian started moving on his chair. I knew he was still mad at the wizards for what had happened a few days earlier. He thought the fact I had gotten so sick and I was at the hospital was their fault. I had told him several times he was wrong, they didn't have anything to do with my condition and I was the one who should have known I didn't have enough strength to use my powers. But, stubborn, as always, he didn't want to listen to me and was always cutting me off saying that I should not blame myself. I was actually getting his reaction. He had been scared to death at the idea of losing me and the baby, and he needed someone to blame. He wasn't managing to be mad at me because I was sick, so he was angry at them. It was pretty logical, but I really wanted things to get better between them. It would be quite difficult to collaborate in this condition, especially because I knew how impressive Killian could get when he was mad at someone.

"They were pretty shocked to see their families again and.. I think they are worried for you." My mom answered. "They didn't think you would stay that long in the hospital and they are feeling pretty guilty..."

"We'll go see them when I'll get out of here to tell them everything is okay and they don't have to feel bad. Right, Killian?" I added, staring at Hook to see his reaction.

"Mmm." He grunted as an answer, his jaw clenched, not looking too happy by my suggestion.

"You're still going to lie about what really happened?" Regina asked with curiosity. "I mean, you're ten weeks pregnant, you're going to start showing pretty soon. Beside, you'll have to explain why you've stayed here for so long."

"I don't want to tell them everything now." I shrugged. "If I have to, I will, but I don't want to be rude and say I'm expecting while they just want to go find their own families. Beside, they'd feel even more guilty if I told them I'm pregnant and that's why I'm here. And I feel better now that only a few people know about what's going on. People are not trying to stop me from living my goddamn life, at least." I added, turning to look at Killian, who was protesting every time I was trying to walk more than three steps these past few days.

I gave him a teasing look to see his reaction. I knew deep down he was only doing that because he had been really scared, but annoying him a little bit was making me laugh a lot. He didn't take too long to react, and opened his mouth in an outraged way, even if I could guess at his shinning eyes that he knew I was messing with him.

"Hey, I'm doing the best I can given the circumstances!" He defended himself.

"I know, I was kidding." I smiled

Neal and Liam hadn't learned about the pregnancy yet, and they hadn't really listened to our conversation. I was planning on telling them when this crisis with the wizards would be over. We had to explain everything to them anyway, because they were both still very young, and it was the first time they were going to be confronted to a pregnant woman. I wanted to take my time to explain everything to them, it was important for me. I really wanted them to get what it meant for all of us, because the family was going to change, and explaining the details of what was going to happen when the wizards would be gone was going to be much easier.

Someone knocked on the door again, and we all startled a little bit. I turned to look at my parents and asked, frowning :

"Are we expecting someone else?"

They shrugged and shook they head to show me they didn't know who was standing outside of the room. Curious to know who the hell was coming to see me, I screamed a "come on in!" for the guests to show themselves.

Harry, Ron and Hermione walked into the room, all looking particularly uncomfortable. I felt Killian stiffening next to me, and placed my hand above his to ease him. The situation was awkward enough already, and I didn't want him to get mad. My parents looked at them with surprise, and Regina started talking immediately, aware that someone had to take a decision or we would all stupidly stay silent and still for a long time.

"Do you guys want to go to the cafeteria?"

"That's a good idea." My mom nodded, smiling serenely. "Come on, Neal. Let's go."

"But I want to stay with Emma!" My brother whined, pouting and wrapping his arms around me to pull me closer to him.

"I'm not going anywhere, sweetie." I comforted him, kissing him on the forehead to help him regain his smile. "I promise. Go with mom and dad, I'll be there when you come back."

He obeyed, looking a bit disappointed, and my mom took him in her arms. Henry had already lifted Liam up from the ground, and I winked at my sons and my brother. Liam and Neal both seemed pretty sad to go, and they were looking so miserable I pout at them to give them their smiles back. The poor little boys didn't know what was going on, but Killian, the wizards and I had to be alone to talk a little bit. I really wanted all of this to get better.

"Do you want something to eat, Emma?" My mom offered gently.

"Oh, yes, that'd be nice. Could you take me a blueberry muffin, please?" I asked with a somewhat shy smile.

I was having the biggest craving for the sweet for an hour now, but I hadn't told anything to my family in order not to bother them. I wanted to fight against my hormones, and I knew they would all have wanted to go grab the muffin for me because they were taking care of me as if I was the most precious thing in the world lately. I was a bit embarrassed about taking advantage of their kindness. But now that my mom had offered me to go, my stomach was rumbling and I couldn't say no.

She nodded with a smile to show me she would do it with pleasure, and they needed a few seconds to walk out of the room because it was definitely too small for all of us. When we finally found ourselves alone, the wizards kept quiet for a few seconds, looking deeply guilty. Killian was still looking very mad, and I was scared he would start screaming because the situation was already very awkward. Hermione finally started talking sheepishly, breaking the heavy silence that had filled in the room :

"How are you feeling?"

"Much better." I answered with a big smile to make them understand I wasn't mad at them.

"We're so sorry." Harry said, nervously playing with his fingers. "We really are. We had no idea your were feeling that bad..."

"You can be sorry." Killian mumbled coldly.

"Killian!" I sighted, pressing his fingers in mine, wanting to calm him down and break the tension between us and the wizards. "I'm the one who decided to use my magic, babe. I've already told you a thousand times. They haven't forced me to do so. Stop blaming them, okay?

He shrugged, looking a bit skeptic. Seeing that he wasn't answering, I squeezed his fingers a little bit harder, and repeated with confidence :

"Okay?"

"Yeah." He finally capitulated after a couple of seconds, and I smiled to show him how much it meant for me we were all getting along with each other.

"What you have isn't too serious, right? You're feeling better now? You're not risking anything anymore?" Hermione asked, looking deeply worried for me.

"Don't worry." I comforted her. "I'm fine. I'll be on my feet soon, and we'll send you home, I promise."

"I hope you're not too mad at us." Ron said sheepishly. "We really didn't mean to hurt you..."

"I know. And we're not mad." I said with a smile. "It's my fault if I'm here. I shouldn't have tried to play hero. And deep down, I know Killian agrees with me. Right?" I asked, turning to look at him.

He stared at me for a few seconds, and I guessed at his focused look he was actually getting my point. I was understanding his anger too, but it wasn't a good thing to make our friends feel even worse about themselves. They were already so sad because they were away from their families, it was cruel to add guilt to all of that.

"Right." Killian sighted after a little hesitation. "I'm mad, but I'm not going to let my feelings get in the way of helping you. It's our job."

The three wizards seemed comforted by his words, and I smiled at him to quietly thank him. I purposely started to talk about something else to break the tension. Killian seemed to calm down as I was gently stroking his hand, and that made me feel better. I knew he wasn't going to jump at their throats and kill them, but I didn't want them to be mad at each other. The situation was already complicated enough like that.

After a few more minutes, someone knocked on the door again, and Whale appeared in the room. Harry, Ron and Hermione walked out to give me some privacy, promising me to come back soon. After examining me for a few minutes, the doctor finally said with a smile :

"It's been a few days everything seems fine to me. I think you can go home, now."

"Really?" I said enthusiastically. "It's about time!"

"I know it seemed long to you." He said with an amused smile. "But I wanted to make sure you and the baby were safe. You just have to promise me to use your powers only for emergencies, and to come back and tell me if anything seems wrong to you."

"Don't worry about that." Killian said, looking deeply happy by the fact I could go home with him. "If anything happens, we'll be here in a heartbeat."

"Good. Very well, Emma." The doctor then said. "I'll see you for the next ultrasound in a few weeks, then."

I nodded with a big smile on my face, and when he had walked out of the room, I jumped out of the bed and started to gather the things I had scattered around the room during my stay. I hadn't felt so good for a very long time. To be honest, I was feeling able to run a marathon after having to stay in bed for so long.

"Calm down!" Killian said, his eyes widened in worry. "I know you're eager to get home, but we're not in a hurry. And don't try to do too much, please. I don't want something to happen to you..."

"Killian!." I cried out, laughing. "I'm feeling awesome! I haven't felt like this since the beginning of the pregnancy, I assure you."

"I believe you." He said, approaching me and wrapping his arms around my waist to pull me close to him. "But I just want you to be careful. After what has happened, I'm a bit scared. I want you and the little one to be healthy..."

"I know. I want that too." I answered, gently smiling at him. "But that doesn't mean I have to stay still and I can't do anything anymore. I'm not going to stay in bed now that I can start moving again. Believe me, I'm sick of doing nothing!"

He nodded, showing me that he was getting my point, and leaned forward to press a kiss on my lips. He put his forehead against mine and looked at me carefully as if I was coming back from the dead. I didn't say anything, a small smile on my lips and enjoying the touch of his skin against mine. The door opening broke our little moment. My family walked into the room, bunching into the little space. My parents seemed to realize something was happening by seeing our faces, and my dad asked :

"Why do you both seem so happy?"

"I can finally get out of here!" I said with a huge smile.

"And you've gotten here just in time." Killian added with a teasing smirk. "She already wants to make efforts."

"I don't think gathering my things is an effort!" I protested even if I knew he was kidding, and he laughed, leaning to kiss my forehead and hug me for a few seconds.

"We're going to help you." My mom said with a smile, happy to see us always so close.

She gave me Liam, who she was holding in her arms, and my son buried his face into the crook of my neck. She then got a muffin out of a paper bag and handed me the sweet, as I thanked her with a grateful smile. I was starving, actually, and knowing I could eat was making me very happy. I got back in bed, my back turned to my family and my son against me to eat my snack, so hungry I didn't feel like waiting any longer.

"Well done." Killian said in a falsely secretive tone but loud enough for me to hear him. "While she eats, she's too focused to try to do anything else."

"I heard you, idiot!" I replied without turning back in order not to show them the smile I wasn't managing to hide.

My comment made them laugh, and everyone started to organize my things as I was enjoying the muffin, Liam still cuddled against me.

* * *

Sitting on the living room couch, my legs underneath me, I was trying to stay awake as I was getting really sleepy. Liam, who was settled on my lap, didn't seem to feel ready to go to sleep, and I just wanted to enjoy this moment. Killian was sitting next to me, his arm around my shoulder and his fingers playing against my side in very pleasant strokes. He was staring at the screen in front of him, but was glancing at me regularly to make sure I was okay. I wasn't really paying attention to the movie we were watching. I was just happy to be home, and feeling Killian and Liam's presence beside me was making me feel so safe. I had missed these quiet moments.

My parents had brought pizzas so we didn't have to cook, and we had eaten all together, them, Henry, Regina, Robin, Killian, the kids and I. After they had left the house, we had turned the TV on to avoid having to go to bed right away. I knew it wasn't very reasonable as it was already late for Liam, but I wanted to spend time with my little boy. I could guess the last events had upset him a little bit, and I just wanted to make him feel better.

He had indeed stayed glued to me since I had gotten home, and he hadn't wanted to leave me alone for a minute, as if he was scared I would disappear. We were usually very close, but something didn't seem right about his clingy behavior. I was just hoping it wasn't going to last long and everything would be fine again when he would realize I wasn't going to get sick anymore. I didn't want him to feel bad because of me. The poor little boy had already lived way too many complicated situations in a few days.

The movie ended half an hour later, and Killian turned the TV off, making the house turn silent. Liam had finally fallen asleep in my arms, and he was looking more peaceful than he had been all day.

"We should get him to bed." Killian said, a smile on his face.

"Mmm." I answered absent-mindlessly, looking at my son in my arms. "Don't you think he's behaving a bit strangely?"

"He's been scared, love." He answered gently "Everyone has been. He just needs to understand nothing is going to happen to you. Give him time."

"You're right." I nodded, gently stroking Liam's back as he was breathing peacefully. "I just want him to be the happy little boy he was before all this mess."

"He's just worried, Swan, it's gonna get better." Killian comforted me, kissing my temple to reassure me as he was guessing how worried I was. "I think he has just been very afraid. By keeping you close to him, he thinks nothing will happen to you anymore. I'm trying to think like him, anyway," He added with a shrug.

"Right, thinking like a two-year-old boy shouldn't be too hard for you." I joked as he gave me an annoyed look and I was laughing at my own joke.

"See, that's how I know you're feeling better : you're mocking me, as always." He theatrically said with a pout, and I leaned forward, laughing, to give him a quick peck on the lips.

"You know it's because I love you."

He smiled, unable to keep his falsely mad expression, and gently pushed my shoulder as a revenge, trying not to wake Liam up in the process.

"Okay, let's go upstairs before we awake him with our jokes." He laughed.

"To be honest, I'm pretty eager to join our bed too" I said with my eyebrows raised in provocation, and he laughed again, shaking his head in amusement.

He took Liam into his arms after one last kiss on my lips to lift him up to his room. I looked at them for a few seconds before getting up and following them. I was so happy I was finally home. I had the illusory feeling everything would be okay now that I was out of the hospital. But deep down, I knew it wasn't the case : even if I knew he was doing the best he could, Killian was a bit overprotective with me because of what had happened, and his words about Liam's weird behavior hadn't really managed to calm me down. I was just hoping my son would get better soon. If he wasn't feeling safe, it was because of me. I wouldn't have stood the idea of hurting my baby because of my stupidity, I was not going to stand seeing Liam worried by my fault. I sighted and rubbed my eyes.

Everything would be okay, we didn't have a choice.


	13. Chapter 13

**_Thanks a lot to oncer4life11 (I'm so sorry, I've totally forgotten to answer your question last time! So, yes, there will be a lot of little moments between Emma and her sons :) ), Guest (I'm sorry, my statement wasn't very clear. Neal was around Emma when she was pregnant with Liam, but he was only one year old and he was too young to remember it :) ), Araya and Emilee Amethyst for the reviews! _**

* * *

_We are in Central Park. The sun is shinning, and a little and pleasant wind is refreshing the air. I can see Henry, Liam and Killian playing together in the grass. I'm watching them, sitting cross-legged on a bench facing the lake, a hand on my stomach. I'm feeling so good. It's like all the problems we had to face these past few days are now gone. I close my eyes to enjoy this moment, taking some deep breaths…_

"Mommy!"

The scream woke me up from the marvelous dream I was having. I grunted in frustration, and rolled on my back, freeing myself from Killian's arms, who was as always holding me close to him. I sighted and placed a hand on my forehead. I was exhausted, and I had a headache because of my sleep deprivation. Liam hadn't let us sleep all night long, and now that I was finally in bed, he was waking me up again.

"I'm going." Killian said hastily, going out of the bed. "Try to go back to sleep, okay?"

He hadn't slept a lot these past few days either, but he knew that, with the pregnancy, I had difficulty resisting all of this. He was trying to make things easier for me despite his own exhaustion, and it was truly touching my heart. Since I had gotten out of the hospital, everything seemed wrong. The two weeks we had just lived had been a living hell. We still hadn't managed to send the wizards back home, and I was starting to suspect something more important we didn't know about was actually going on between these events, but, even worse, Liam had been particularly difficult since I had been allowed to come home.

I was worried about him. He never wanted to leave me alone anymore, and he was following me everywhere all day long. I was forced to stay with him until he had fallen asleep in my arms at night, and when he was waking up and realizing I wasn't next to him anymore, he was starting to cry after me every single time. I knew this strange behavior was linked to my hospitalization, because everything had started when I had gotten home. It was as if he was scared something was going to happen to me again. I was so concerned for my little boy, I was feeling guilty because it was my fault if he was behaving like that, and my pregnancy wasn't easing things at all.

I tried to close my eyes, but hundreds of dark thoughts kept crashing inside my painful brain. After ten minutes, I ended up giving up on the idea of falling back asleep. Despite my exhaustion, I just couldn't. I then sat down on the bed with a sight and tried to ease my headache a little bit by gently massaging my temples. Killian came back to the room a few seconds later, and said, still half asleep :

"He fell back asleep, it's still very early, if he could rest for a few more hours… What are you doing?" He added, realizing that I was going out of the bed.

"I can't sleep anymore." I said, trying to sound nonchalant while I was feeling like I could start sobbing or yelling at any moment because of my frustration. "I'll go dress."

"Swan, you need to rest..." He protested in a worried tone.

"It isn't useful for me to stay in bed if I can't sleep, I should do something instead." I mumbled, taking some clothes into the wardrobe.

"Okay." He gave up, looking at me with concern and knowing that I wouldn't change my mind. "I'm going to make breakfast then. You at least need to eat something."

I nodded and forced myself to smile to make him understand my bad mood had nothing to do with him. He was always so sweet with me, and to be honest, he was the only person who could manage to calm me down lately. He leaned forward to kiss my head as he walked past me, and I looked at him walking out of the room with a little sight before myself heading for the bathroom.

I took off the leggings I was wearing to sleep, and put on a pair of jeans, trying to stay calm as the frustration was growing stronger and stronger in my chest. We really needed to do something about Liam. We were all exhausted and his behavior was as damaging for him as it was for us. Honestly, I wasn't sure I would be able to keep going in these conditions for much longer. The pregnancy was making me so tired, and I just wanted to bury myself under ten blankets, get in bed and not wake up for a week.

I frowned, realizing that I wasn't managing to tie my jeans up. They were getting more and more tight lately, but I hadn't expected to be unable to wear them overnight. I lifted my shirt up to look at my reflexion in the mirror. My stomach was now pretty rounded-out, and I had a bump who wasn't there the day before, as if it had appeared during the night. Stubborn, as always, I tried to tie them up for a few more minutes, but it didn't work. I ended up giving up, and it made me so mad I was feeling like yelling. All the frustration I was keeping inside of me for days was threatening to get out, and I didn't know what to do to control myself.

My jaw clenched, I ran down the stairs, not worrying about the fact I could actually fall, and walked past Killian without saying a word, trying to keep calm and not start screaming. It wouldn't help me, I knew it, but I was so damn pissed off about what was happening.

"Swan?" He asked as I was violently opening the front door

I didn't answer anything, and walked toward the garage at the end of the yard. I was barefoot and was only wearing the wide shirt I had slept with and my jeans, still open. It was so early it was still dark outside. I couldn't believe my pregnancy was going to get noticeable for everyone soon. I didn't want to tell the town about it, but I knew I couldn't hide it for much longer and I was so angry because I couldn't control it. I was feeling like everything was turning wrong lately, and it was so frustrating. I needed to have control over the situation. I couldn't stand being so helpless.

I walked into the garage and looked for the boxes were I had stored my pregnancy clothes for a few minutes, not paying attention to the absolute mess I was making on my way. When I finally found them, I piled the two huge boxes and lifted them up without flinching. It was heavy as hell and I couldn't see were I was going anymore, but I couldn't have cared less. I needed to eliminate my anger in order not to explode, and it was the only way I had found to do so.

I closed the garage door with my foot and walked back into the house, opening the front door with my hip. I heard Killian's voice asking as I was walking into the living room :

"What's going on… Emma, stop!"

Not understanding what was happening, I didn't react fast enough and stepped on one of Liam's Lego block that was laying on the ground. Exhausted, we had decided to leave his toys on the floor the day prior, and not store them as we usually did. I grunted in pain and dropped the boxes on the ground. They fell open, and the clothes scattered everywhere. I winced, jumping on one foot because the other was too painful, and yelled, angry as hell :

"Holy fuck!"

I promised myself to never ever let a Lego block on the floor again.

"Are you okay?" Killian worried, approaching me and placing his hand on my shoulder to help me find my balance.

"This toy is evil." I mumbled, carefully putting my still painful foot back on the floor.

"Can you tell me what's going on?" He asked, showing me the clothes on the floor and the mess that was reigning in the living room.

"That's what's going on!"

I lifted my shirt up to show him my jeans still open and my curved stomach. He raised an eyebrow at me, not looking like he was getting my anger, and he gently placed his hand on my belly to calm me down a bit.

"I can't put on my clothes anymore!" I added, seeing how perplexed he was.

"And? That's what makes you so mad? You're pregnant, love, what were you expecting?"

He was looking at me with a kindly teasing look, and it made me even angrier. I angrily tucked a hair stand that was in front of my face behind my ear.

"It's so fucking annoying!" I said, rolling my eyes. "I won't be able to hide my pregnancy for much longer, now!"

"Well, tell everyone, then." He gently replied, still not understanding why I was reacting that way and, to be honest, I was pretty perplexed by my own behavior.

"No!" I protested. "I really don't want to tell them now. I just want to be able to do my job, and I don't want to tell the town while the wizards are still here..."

"You're a bit stubborn, you know that, right?" He gently stated.

I sighted and he wrapped his arms around me, still kindly smiling at me. He stared at my face and I read a great gentleness in his clear blue eyes. I started to relax a bit at his touch and I sighted once again, approaching him to place my head on his shoulder. His hand started to run up and down my spine, as he seemed to guess that my anger wasn't really because of my too tight clothes, and that it was hiding something more important. He pressed a gentle kiss on the top of my head and asked :

"That's not the only problem, is it?"

"It isn't." I admitted, looking up to meet his eyes. "I'm exhausted. I just want to sleep, and nothing seems right lately. We can't send Hermione, Ron and Harry back home without the damn wand, and honestly, I'm worried about Liam."

"I am too." He confessed with a little sight. "I thought it was just a phase and it was going to be all right because we were there, but neither of us are going to hold on like that for much longer. We have to find a solution. But everything is going to be okay. We always make it." He added with a confident smile.

I nodded slowly and lifted my chin up to kiss him on the lips, quietly thanking him for his comforting words. He smiled and stroked my back one last time before squatting to help me pick the clothes up from the floor. When we finished our task, he turned back to me to say :

"And don't worry about your pregnancy. It's not noticeable when we don't know it, and no one is staring at your stomach, trust me."

I weakly smiled and got on my feet, one of the box in my arm as he was carrying the other. He was always managing to calm me down, no matter how bad the situation was. He knew me better than anyone in the world, and he always knew what I needed to hear to feel a little bit better. I could say the same thing about me : I knew what was comforting him when he was upset. Despite everything that was happening, we were a good team. And it was the only thing that was giving me the strength to get up in the morning these days.

* * *

"Are you okay?" Killian asked after knocking at my parent's door.

"Mmm." I grunted as an answer, too tired to find the courage to say something comprehensible.

I was carrying Liam in my arms, and his head was resting on my shoulder. He had fallen asleep in my car during the trip to my parents', and hadn't woken up when I had taken him against me to carry him to the loft. It wasn't surprising, really, he was as tired as Killian and I were. We had to go to Regina's and talk about a plan to send the wizards home, but we hadn't managed to come to term with taking our son to Ashley as usual. Given his recent behavior, we had thought it was better if his baby-sitter was someone very close to him, and my mom had kindly agreed to take care of him while we were all going to Regina's, my dad included. He would perhaps feel better with his grandma beside him if something was going wrong, and he could play with Neal, thing that could make him feel a bit better.

My mom ended up opening the door with a sad smile, seeing how tired we were, and she asked us to come into the loft and sit down for a little while. We gratefully accepted her proposition, happy to be able to settle for a few minutes. Given how tired we were, every possibility to rest was good to take, and we sat down on the couch, Liam still in my arms.

"It hasn't gotten better, huh?" My mom guessed, sitting down in front of us on the sofa. "You both seem exhausted..."

"We are." Killian said, forcing himself to politely smile.

"He didn't let us seep all night." I added with a little sight.

I just wanted to lay down and sleep for weeks, but I knew it wasn't possible. We had to solve this damn crisis. So I forced myself to smile as well and gently shook Liam's shoulder to wake him up. I knew that letting him sleep and going without telling him anything would make things even worse. He would panic if I disappeared without an explanation, and I couldn't do that to my little boy.

"Wake up, baby." I gently said to his ear.

He opened his eyes after a few seconds, looking a bit disoriented. I squatted to put him on the floor, and said with a comforting smile.

"Liam, Daddy and I, we have to leave. You're going to stay with Grandma for a few hours, okay? I promise you it won't be long..."

"No!" He immediately cried out, looking at me as if I had just betrayed him grandly.

"We have to, little mate." Killian explained, kneeling beside me to help me. "It's our job. But we'll be right back."

"No!" My son repeated, starting to sob. "I don't want to!"

"But sweetheart." I answered, trying to ignore the lump in my throat that was forming every time I was seeing him cry. "You always have fun with Grandma. You're going to play with Neal, and..."

"No, Mommy! Stay!" He cut me off, wrapping his little arms around me to prevent me from going.

"Liam..." Killian said in a broken voice.

I looked up to my mom with tears in my eyes, and she knelt on the ground as well to support us, seeing that we weren't able to control the situation :

"You'll see, Liam. It won't be long. We're going to play together. It's going to be really nice."

"No Mommy, don't go! Please, stay!"

I held him close to me, trying to stop the tears from streaming down my face. Seeing me cry was not going to help him. I needed to be strong for him, I knew it, but it was so hard and my hormones were making me much more sensitive than usual.

Seeing him like that was heartbreaking. And it was all my fault. I had gone to the hospital and now he was scared to lose me. My little boy wasn't happy anymore, and I was the only one to blame.

"Okay, baby." I said in a low voice to hide my shaky tone. "Calm down. I'm staying with you."

"Emma." My mom gently protested. "You know you both have to go to Regina's..."

"She'll do without us." I cut her off. "I can't leave him here like that." I added, trying to explain myself and feeling a lonely tear running down my face. "I just can't..."

My mom nodded, showing us that she was getting my point, and Killian wrapped his arms around me to silently tell me he was supporting me on this. He was looking as sad as I was by Liam's reaction, and his eyes were shinning with unshed tears.

Liam ended up calming down when he understood we weren't going anywhere, and we got out of the apartment, still trying not to cry. I knew things couldn't stay that way. We had to search for help if the problem was persisting. And this thought wasn't comforting me at all.

* * *

"You sleeping?" Killian asked in a low tone, but his voice seemed to ring into the quiet of the room

"Yeah" I replied in a mocking way.

"Very funny." He said, and I could imagine him rolling his eyes.

"Your question was dumb." I shrugged.

"I know."

I rolled on my side to turn the light on, and moved to look at Killian. I put my elbow on the pillow to lift my head up and look at him more easily.

Despite my exhaustion, I wasn't able to fall asleep. I was way too worried for my son, and dozens of dark thoughts were crashing inside my brain and driving me crazy. Killian had to be experiencing the same thing, and when I looked at him and saw the big bags stretching under his eyes, I understood I had been right.

"We need to find a solution to make things better with Liam." I started with a sight. "We can't keep going like that. It's not healthy."

"You're right, the situation is getting out of hand." He nodded, looking deeply sad. "He loves to stay at your mother's usually."

"It's all my fault." I mumbled, sheepishly looking down at the sheets as tears were forming in my eyes. "Not only have I put the baby in danger by using my damn magic while I was sick, but now Liam is unhappy because of me. I'm doing everything wrong..."

"Don't say that." Killian gently countered. "It's not your fault, I've already told you. You just wanted to help Harry, Ron and Hermione because you're the best person I know. You couldn't know what was going to happen. Stop blaming yourself, okay?"

I nodded slowly as a tear was streaming down my face, and he pulled me closer to him to hold me tight. I sighted and buried my face into the crook of his neck to breathe him. Finding myself in his arms was always making me feel better, no matter what was wrong, and I felt like I was relaxing a little bit.

"Mommy!"

My son's voice rang into the house, and I pulled away from Killian to roll on my back. Not knowing what to do anymore, I put my hands on my face and said in a broken voice because of my despair :

"Here we go again."

"I'm coming with you." Killian decided, getting out of the bed and suddenly looking much more confident. "We need to talk with him a little bit."

"Babe, I'm not sure it's a good idea. I don't know if it's gonna work. He's still so young..." I whispered.

"Well, we have to try something. I can't stand seeing you both like that. He's afraid, and you're feeling bad, and I just want you to be happy."

I nodded. I was getting his point. Liam was only two, but we didn't have a choice anymore. We had to make things right, or we wouldn't be able to keep going. He reached for my hand to help me get up, and I followed him into the dark corridor. Our son's room was enlightened by his little pilot light, and he was crying in his crib. I immediately took him in my arms to comfort him and sat down on the rocking chair as he was still sobbing, cuddled against my chest.

"Calm down, baby, I'm here." I gently said, rocking him against me to reassure him.

I glanced at Killian, and he took the chair laying in a corner of the room to sit beside us. He waited for our son to stop crying, gently stroking his back, and took his little hand in his when he had finally calmed down :

"Liam, little mate, what's going on?"

Without surprise, our son didn't say anything back. I looked up to Killian with a little wince, and kindly stated, because I knew he was just trying to make things better :

"Killian, he's two. He's not able to explain what he's feeling yet. Liam." I added, looking down at my son and still rocking him. "I know you're scared, sweetheart. But you don't have to. I know you went with Regina the other day, and we you came back we were gone. But it won't happen again. We're staying here with you now."

"Do you remember how it was before?" Killian said in a low voice. "you were not afraid when you were going to bed, because you knew we were there and you were safe. It's the same now. We won't leave you again."

Our son didn't answer anything at first, and I turned to look at Killian, desperate and sure that Liam was still too young to understand what we were trying to say. Killian sighted, and his hand let go of Liam's to go on my thigh and stroke it to comfort me. We were not expecting anything from Liam anymore, but after a couple of minutes and at my greatest surprise, he started talking in a little voice :

"Promise?"

"Promise, little prince. We won't ever leave you again." Killian said, leaning forward to press a kiss on his forehead.

"We love you so, so much sweetheart." I added with a little smile.

My son stayed cuddled against me a little bit more, and ended up falling asleep again after a few more minutes. I looked at Killian for a few seconds, hoping it had worked and everything would be okay again. Liam had at least seemed to get our point and I was really hoping he would stop being scared to lose us.

Killian finally took Liam into his arms to put him back to bed. I got up and we spent a few seconds looking at our son, who was breathing peacefully, finally looking happy again. Killian wrapped his left arm around my waist and whispered to my ear.

"Let's go to bed now. You need to rest. You both need to." He added with a little grin, placing his hand on my stomach.

I nodded with a tired smile, and hand in hand, we walked toward our room as everything seemed to finally fall into place.

* * *

 **In the next chapter, Killian has a bit of a surprise for Emma, something quite important actually. I hope you'll like it, and see you Friday! :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Thanks a lot to oncer4life11, Emilee Amethyst and Araya for the reviews! **

* * *

"I'm so happy things are back to normal now." I started absent-mindlessly as we were waiting on the uncomfortable chairs placed in the waiting room of the hospital.

"Me too." Killian answered with a smile. "And to be honest, it feels really good to be able to sleep."

I giggled at his comment. We had indeed finally managed to leave Liam at my parents' without him bursting out crying, and it had put me in such a good mood I couldn't help but smile or laugh at everything. He had calmed down since our little conversation in the middle of the night a week ago, but it was the first time he had agreed on staying away from me for several hours. It was so comforting, and seeing my son starting to behave like the happy little boy he was before all this mess was relieving me so much. In addition to that, I'd had the right to have a few good nights, and Killian had let me sleep until noon that day, waking me up with breakfast in bed and tender kisses all over my face. The few hours I had just lived had been absolutely perfect, and I couldn't have been happier.

We were waiting for Whale, who was supposed to check on the baby for the third months ultrasound. He was a bit late, and we were awaiting for a few minutes already. I was so relieved we had been able to leave Liam at my parents'. Taking him to the hospital with us was definitely impossible.

Despite the fact he should have been used to the examination, Killian was looking literally overexcited. He seemed so adorable, eager to see the baby, and the smile he had on his face hadn't left him since the morning. I had to admit I was pretty happy to see the little one again as well, and this day was definitely starting really well.

"Stop it!" I suddenly laughed, placing my hand on Killian's leg, which was bouncing up and down from his nervousness and was driving me crazy.

"Sorry." He said with a little wince, stopping the movement. "I didn't realize I was doing that."

"You're anxious?" I questioned, regaining seriousness quite quickly to make sure he was feeling okay.

"No. I mean, yeah. Well, I don't know." He mumbled with a little sight.

"Make up your mind." I gently scoffed to give him his smile back.

"I just want to know if the little one's okay." He explained with a somewhat sheepish smile, and I stroked his leg with my thumb to show him it was okay to be nervous. "Since you've been sick… let's say I'm a bit worried, and seeing the baby and make sure it's okay is going to reassure me."

"Me too." I admitted with a little smile. "But I'm sure we're worrying for nothing. It's okay, really. It's growing up fast, a bit too fast, actually."

My stomach was indeed beginning to get more and more difficult to hide under my everyday clothes, and I was forced to wear wide shirts in order to avoid intrusive questions. I still didn't want to be indelicate and tell I was pregnant to the wizards while they were trying to go back to their families, but I was aware I couldn't keep things like that for much longer. But for now, my stomach was still unnoticeable if I was wearing baggy clothes or wide blouses, and Killian and I were both enjoying this time during which we were the only one with our close ones to know a new baby was going to enter the family really soon.

"You realize we won't be able to hide the baby forever, right?" He teased me with half a smile.

"Yeah." I giggled at his comment. "It's just that the moment isn't right, that's all."

"The moment is never right in this town." He replied with his eyebrow raised, and I laughed once again.

"That's true, but I like the fact only a few people know about it for now." I admitted, taking his hand to woven our fingers together.

"Me too." He confessed, his smile reaching his eyes.

I leaned forward to press a tender kiss on his lips. When he was smiling like that, I could never resist approaching him because he was always looking so adorable. He laughed through our kiss and pulled away to press his lips again my forehead, his hand letting go of mine to land on my stomach. I put my head on his shoulder to enjoy his strokes, and we resumed waiting for Whale, who was definitely quite late, as always.

* * *

"Swan?"

"That's my name." I said, turning to face Killian, who was standing in the middle of the kitchen.

"If it's okay with you, I'd like to talk to you about something..."

"Yeah, me too." I answered a bit absent-mindlessly, looking away from him for a second.

"Ladies first."

"Don't you think it's a bit stupid to pin the ultrasound picture on the fridge while we're trying to hide my pregnancy?" I asked with one of my eyebrow raised, staring at the black and white picture in front of me.

"No." He shrugged, sounding a bit surprised by my comment.

"And what are we going to tell our friends when they'll ask us why we have a new picture of a fetus in our freaking kitchen?"

"We'll find something, we're good at inventing excuses. And the little one has the right to have its picture here, don't you think? Can I talk to you now?"

I turned back to look at him with a frown. He was behaving quite strangely. I knew he would have laughed at my comment if everything had been okay. But he had taken my joke seriously instead, and it wasn't like him. Staring at him more carefully, I realized he was looking extremely uncomfortable and nervous, clenching and opening his fist every few seconds as if he was trying to calm himself down. I walked toward him and gently asked, suddenly a bit worried :

"What's wrong, babe?"

"Nothing. It's not a big deal, love." He insisted, seeing how concerned I was and scratching the back of his ear, as always when he was embarrassed. "Don't worry. I just want to talk to you for a bit..."

"You're sure everything's fine?" I asked, taking his hand to guide him to a chair and sitting down in front of him.

He was scaring me a little bit. We had just come back from the ultrasound, and Liam was still at my parents'. Henry was in his room, probably reading or playing video games, and we were alone downstairs. Despite what he had told me, I was sure something was wrong. He was so happy to have seen the baby a few minutes earlier, and his sudden change of mood was a bit disturbing. I placed my hand on his leg and gently stroked it to try and give him his smile back. I hated seeing him like that, I would have done anything to make him feel better even if I had no idea why he was behaving so strangely.

"Yes, darling, please don't worry." He said, shaking his head and smiling, but I could see he was only doing that to reassure me. "I just wanted to..."

He stopped in the middle of his sentence and sighted. That wasn't like him at all, and I felt a lump forming in my throat. I took his hand to intertwined our fingers together. I didn't know what was making him so nervous, but I could tell it was really important.

"Killian, you can tell me anything." I said in a low voice, stroking his hand with my thumb. "Whatever it is, I'm with you and we'll solve this together."

"I know, Emma, I'm sorry, I really don't want to worry you." He sighted once again, looking up and staring at me with his beautiful clear blue eyes. "I know you always get me. I don't even know why I'm so nervous, it's silly. What I want to say is… I wanted to ask you if you've already thought about getting married?"

I pulled away from him to lean on the back of my chair, not believing what he had just said. I had expected everything, but definitely not _that_. Seeing how serious he was, I tried to keep a straight face, but I couldn't help myself but laugh, and I shook my head with an amused smile.

"Are you kidding me, Killian? I hate to be the one to remind you of that, trust me, but in case you've forgotten, we are engaged." I said, still giggling and showing him my left hand where I was wearing the ring he had given me two and a half years ago.

I could recall his proposal perfectly. The morning of my birthday, the year I was pregnant with Liam, he had given me his brother's ring, offering me the choice of what I wanted it to be : a simple ring symbolizing his promise of always staying by my side, or an engagement ring. And, at my own surprise, I had decided I wanted us to be engaged. This moment had been so magical for us : he was only back from the Underworld for a few months, and we were expecting our first baby together. Knowing how scared I was given my past, he had wanted to show me he would never leave me. And he had kept his promise. More than two years later, he was still there, we were still madly in love with each other, and we were expecting again. I was myself sometimes amazed by the strength of my feelings for him. I would have done anything for him, and he was not only the man I loved, but also my best friend. I was thanking the universe every day for finally giving me this beautiful family, something I had wished for my entire life.

"Sorry, I wasn't clear." He answered with a sheepish smile, driving me away from our past. "I know we're engaged, believe me, I could never forget that. I'm still wondering every day what I've done to deserve this family. But we're engaged for more than two years now, and we've never talked about getting married for real. Would you like that?"

"And you've had this idea just like that?" I asked, shaking my head and tears in my eyes from the declaration he had just offered me.

It was true that when we had gotten engaged, we had decided we would get married someday. But I had never asked myself if this day would come and I didn't know he was actually thinking about a wedding. This conversation was a bit sudden, but I could guess that he had turned this idea in his head over and over again before finally asking me this question. He shrugged with a little smile, and I leaned forward to place my hand on his knee and get a bit closer to him :

"You really want to get married?" I asked in a low voice, wanting to know more about this sudden declaration.

"Of course." He said in a somewhat shy way. "We are raising Henry together, he's like my own son, we have Liam and we are going to have another child. I just want to spend the rest of my life with you. So I don't see why we wouldn't do it. But if you don't want to..."

"It's not that I don't want to, Killian." I cut him off, tenderized by how embarrassed he was feeling about his own thoughts. "It's just a bit sudden, that's all. I need time to process everything."

I smiled at him to show him everything was all right, but I knew deep down the suddenness of the conversation was only an excuse. The truth was I was scared. Again. I had never thought marriage would suit me. My entire life, I had seen people tearing themselves apart after getting married. Of course there was my parents and others couples who were still happy together after years of marriage. And I knew that what Killian and I had was extremely powerful. We were true love after all, and even death hadn't seemed able to separate us. But I was so scared of myself, I was afraid I would run away because I was terrified my old habits would take control over me again.

But in addition to all of that, I was also a bit disoriented by my heart that was yelling it wasn't such a bad idea.

"Emma, if you don't want to, I'm certainly not going to force you." Killian resumed in a worried voice, triggered by my silence. "We are engaged. I know you love me, we don't have to get married for you to prove that. A wedding would only be an opportunity to celebrate our feelings with the people we love. It would not change anything between us. I just thought that we are having another baby, and tell me I'm old-fashioned, but I kinda want our kids to grow up with married parents."

"You're old-fashioned." I replied, nodding with a teasing smile and he laughed at my comment. "But it's not really surprising. You're two hundreds after all." I added, and he shook his head in amusement. "But at the same time..."

"Yeah?" He encouraged me, seeing that I was hesitating.

"That's weird, Killian." I admitted, deciding to be perfectly sincere with him. "All my life, I've thought this wasn't for me. After Neal has left me in jail, I was so convinced I was going to finish my life alone as I had started it. But then I met you. And everything changed. You gave me confidence. You brought my walls down, and you made me trust you more than I've ever trusted anyone in my entire life. We have two sons together – because Henry is your son too, you're the dad he never had. And now… Now I think that if we're engaged, we can as well get married."

"Really, Swan?" He asked, his eyes shinning with pure happiness. "Look, I don't want you to feel forced to do anything. This is a decision we have to take together. I don't want you to say that because you're scared of hurting me. I can handle it." He added, referring to our first kiss in Neverland, and I giggled at this memory.

"Believe me, I really want this." I said, before adding, shaking my head in disbelief : "God, Killian Jones, you've changed so many things in my life, and I could never thank you enough for that."

"You're the one who changed everything in _my_ life, my love." He whispered, his eyes shinning with tears and I felt myself about to start crying as well.

"I have something to ask, though." I added in a broken voice, trying not to start sobbing by changing the subject. "I want it to be a little wedding. I just don't want us to spend ten months planning it. I want it to be a way of gathering the people we love, nothing really big, all right?"

"As you wish, darling. Whatever you want. I just want you to be happy. I'm going to ask you the big question now, okay?" He added, and I laughed through the tears I wasn't managing to hide. "Emma Swan, would you make me the happiest man on earth by marrying me?"

I waited a few seconds before answering, wanting to remember this moment forever. I imagined the ceremony : Killian in a suit, me with a white and beautiful dress, Henry and Liam beside us as we were telling our vows. Our smiles, the happiness, this promise of a beautiful future together. I wanted this. I wanted to become Emma Swan-Jones.

"Yes." I answered with a little pinch in my chest from the happiness I was experiencing.

My answer made his eyes shine even brighter. He was looking so happy, as I was. Unable to wait a second longer to pull him closer to me, I got off my chair and sat down on his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck and starting to kiss him slowly as tears of joy were streaming down my face.

* * *

"Very well, Henry. Sit down, please." I started, showing him the chair in front of me.

My son glanced at us, looking a bit scared, and obeyed without saying a word. The scene was indeed looking a bit like a police interrogation. Killian and I were standing in front of Henry, and the house was unusually quiet. Liam was already in bed, sleeping, and we then had the opportunity to say everything to Henry without being interrupted.

We had waited until now to finally tell him the news, enjoying these few hours during which we were the only ones to know we were going to get married. I wanted to talk to Henry the sooner possible, and Killian and I had decided to tell my son before anyone else. Even my parents weren't aware of what was going on, and I wanted Henry to be the first to give us his opinion. I was trusting him to tell us if he was thinking it was a bad idea or something was bugging him, but I was a bit scared about what was going to happen and that was the reason why I had talked so strictly without realizing it. What if he was taking this idea badly? He had been happy about our engagement two years ago, but a wedding was drastically different. I was just hoping he would be okay with it. It was one more change in his life, and I didn't want him to be disoriented. We just wanted him to be happy. His opinion was therefore very important to us.

"We want to talk to you about something important." I resumed, glancing at Killian, who was standing beside me and was looking very uncomfortable.

"Okay." My son answered, looking more and more puzzled by our behavior. "Whatever it is, I can explain."

"Huh?" No, wait, we're not here to give you a lecture." I said, perplexed, before adding suspiciously, his words making sense in my mind : "What have you done?"

"Nothing." Henry replied with is best innocent smile. "Nothing at all. I swear."

I looked at him carefully, trying to know if he was lying, but he seemed to tell the truth, even if my _super-power_ was a bit disturbed by my pregnancy from time to time. If something had happened, I would learn about it sooner or later anyway. The most important thing was to tell him everything for now. I could take care of a potential mischief later. I then started to talk again after a few seconds of silence :

"Killian and I have taken a pretty big decision, and we want you to be the first to know about it."

"Mmm, it sounds like a pregnancy announcement, except you're already pregnant." He kindly teased me to relax me a little bit.

"Very clever." I replied, rolling my eyes but smiling at the same time.

"So, guys, what do you want to tell me?" My son encouraged us with a gentle smile, guessing it was hard for us to go for it.

I looked at Killian, a bit worried, and he smiled to show me his support, even if he was looking as anxious as I was. Deciding that the faster the better, I took a deep breath and finally said, trying to make my heart beat slower :

"Killian and I have decided it was time for us to get married."

I had said my sentence very quickly, as if the words were burning my lips, and I looked up to my son with a little wince, nervous about his reaction. He didn't say anything at first. He just stared at Killian and I for a long time, and I wasn't able to tell if the news was making him happy or not. It was driving me crazy, actually. After a few seconds of silence, I then resumed, nervously playing with my fingers :

"We wanted you to be the first to know because if something is bugging you about it, kid, we'll solve the problem. I want you to feel comfortable about that. If you don't, just tell us. Killian and I, we just want you, Liam and the little one to be happy."

"Wait a minute..." My son said, frowning and looking deeply perplexed. "Are you asking me my opinion? Really? But guys, I have nothing to say about it. It's your decision. It's none of my business."

"It's everyone's decision." Killian corrected, looking surprised by Henry's comment. "We are a family. If you think it's not a good idea, we'll stay engaged."

"Wow." My son let out a puff of air, shaking his head. "I can't believe it..."

"So, what do you think? Honestly, Henry, we won't be mad." I hastily said, impatient to know his answer.

"Mom, Killian, of course I'm okay with that!" He stated, a big smile appearing on his face. "I can see how much you love each other. I don't see why you would only stay engaged. It's a very good idea."

"Really, kid?" I asked, sighting in relief by seeing him so happy.

"Sure! I'm certain the party is going to be awesome."

"I'm happy you're taking the news so well, lad, because I have something else to ask you." Killian resumed a bit shyly.

"Should I be scared?" My son asked with a wince, a bit triggered by Hook's tone.

"No." Killian laughed. "Not at all. I just wanted to ask you if you would do me the honor of being my best man?"

My son stayed speechless for a few seconds, his lips parted in disbelief, looking absolutely amazed. I glanced at Killian, who was looking as amused as I was. We patiently waited for Henry's answer, guessing that he needed some time to process the information. I was so happy about this decision. Killian had asked me if I was agreeing with this idea right after his proposal, and I had said yes without even having to think about it. Henry and Killian were very close, I was so happy to see them getting along so well, and I knew Killian was considering Henry as his own son, even if he was never telling those things out loud because he was scared my son wouldn't feel the same way.

"Wait, what? Seriously?" My son finally cried out after a few more seconds of silence. "Not Grandpa, not Robin… You want me as your best-man?!"

"Of course." Killian said as if it was obvious. "I don't see who else I'd choose."

"Oh god." My son said, looking so moved by this offer. "Of course, I would be very happy to. Thank you so much for trusting me."

Killian's face lighted up completely, and Henry got up to wrap his arms around him. Hook seemed a bit disoriented by the embrace at first, but he finally hugged my son back after a second. I bit my lower lip, trying to hold back the sob that was obstructing my throat. Henry and Killian were not hugging very often, and it was making the scene even more powerful. The embrace didn't last long, and I realized they both seemed a bit embarrassed when they pulled away from each other. Killian scratched the back of his ear, and to avoid the discomfort to last longer and break this beautiful moment, I started talking right away :

"Look, kid, we want to wait a bit before telling everyone what's going on. Even my parents or Regina. We would like to make it a surprise to everyone in a little while, so if you could not tell anyone about it..."

"Understood." Henry nodded, still looking deeply moved by the information he had just received. "Do you already know when you want the wedding to be?"

"Actually, we wanted to ask you about that as well." I said with a smile. "We thought maybe it was a good idea to get married while I'm still pregnant, because we won't have a lot of time for ourselves when the little one will be here. Do you think we're right? We don't want a big wedding anyway, so we don't need a lot of time to plan everything."

"I think you're right." He nodded, a big smile on his face. "But I think Grandma is going to want you to have a big wedding. Like a princess." He relevantly added.

"I'll talk about that with her." I laughed, knowing that he was right, before placing my hand on my son's shoulder. "I'm so happy you're agreeing with us, Henry. Your opinion is so important for us."

"Of course I agree, and I'm more than okay with it." He said, looking touched by my words. "As long as you're both happy, it's all that matters for me."

How much he had grown recently hit me all at once, and I felt tears forming into my eyes again. He was becoming a man, loyal and kind, and I was so proud. He was the perfect big brother for Liam, and he was always trying to make everyone happy around him. I couldn't believe he was soon going to be all grown-up. He was so little when he had come to find me in Boston, and as my mom with me, I was regretting every second I hadn't spent with him during these ten years.

Henry approached me to hug me tightly. I suddenly realized he was now a lot taller than me, and it made me even more overwhelmed by everything that was happening. I swallowed the lump in my throat and whispered to his ear :

"I love you, kid. And I'm so proud of you."

He didn't answer anything, but pulled me a little bit closer to him.

* * *

 **So you guys have understood it, if I don't make Emma or Killian die (because I'm evil) , you'll have a wedding before the end of this fiction! I hope you liked this chapter and see you Monday! :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Thanks a lot to oncer4life11, Emilee Amethyst,  Lilybean2004 and Araya for the reviews! You guys are awesome :)**

* * *

"Okay, Killian, be honest." I sighted, walking into our room to join him. "Can you see I'm pregnant if I'm wearing this?"

Hook turned to face me and stared at me carefully for a few seconds. I noticed he was dressed in modern clothes, and had a small smile seeing how handsome he was looking. We had indeed decided it was about time to finally announce we were going to get married. We had kept the secret between Henry, Killian and I for two weeks, but we had finally asked everyone to come to Granny's so we could tell them everything. My parents had no idea why we had wanted to reunite everyone, and I knew they were eager to finally know what was going on with us, because the private jokes Hook, Henry and I were sharing for days were driving them crazy. I was feeling a bit guilty to announce such good news while the wizards were still in town, but we had waited the longer we could. If we wanted to get married before the baby was born, we had to hurry up a little bit.

I was wearing a knee-length red dress, with a belt tied just under my breast so the bottom was wide and was hiding my curved stomach. It was getting harder and harder to hide my pregnancy, and I knew we couldn't wait for much longer before telling everyone we were expecting a new baby. I was just hoping to get a delay of a few more days, because I really wanted to find a solution for the wizards' issues before telling everyone about my pregnancy. But I knew deep down this wish wasn't workable. We were searching for a solution for more than 10 weeks, now. It was unrealistic to think we were going to finally find something in less than a few days.

"It's okay." Killian ended up saying, looking up to meet my gaze. "We really need to stare at your stomach to notice you're pregnant. You look stunning, by the way." He added with a smile.

"You always know what to say, don't you?" I said, approaching him and smiling weakly, comforted by his words as I was a bit anxious because of all this situation with Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Come on, smile!" He laughed, cupping my cheek to look at me in the eyes, and I giggled at his reaction. "We're going to announce our wedding. It's a good thing, isn't it?"

"Of course." I nodded, a big smile finally appearing on my face. "I'm so happy, you have no idea. It's just… I'm a bit worried. I hope we'll manage to send the wizards home before the ceremony."

"We'll find something, we always do. And stop worrying about everyone, okay?" He gently asked. "It's our night. Think about you for once. I'm sure it will make you feel better."

I put myself on my tiptoe to press a tender kiss on his lips and suietly thank him for all his support. I would probably have crumbled under the stress if he hadn't been there to always reassure me, and making sure that I was getting enough rest, and taking some time for myself instead of working my ass off. I kept my hand on the back of his neck and gently tickled him as I was saying :

"I promise I'll try. Are we okay to go? Are Henry and Liam ready?"

"They are awaiting for us in the living room. Are your ready to see your parents freaking out?" He added while raising his eyebrow, and that made me giggle again.

"I've never been more prepared in my entire life." I joked as he was guiding me toward the stair, our fingers woven together.

* * *

I was sitting at a booth at Granny's, Killian beside me and my parents facing us. Liam was sitting on my lap and was looking pretty excited by the little party, wriggling every five seconds in my arms as if he wasn't able to stay still. It was Henry who had dressed him, wanting to make us a surprise, and I had laughed so hard seeing my little boy when I had arrived downstairs that I'd had to sit down in order to keep my balance. My son had bought his brother a little baby suit he had found somewhere on the internet, stating that he wanted to get him ready for the wedding. Liam was looking so adorable dressed that way, and we had received a lot of questioning looks from our friends, who were wondering why the hell our son was dressed so formally. We hadn't answered any of their interrogations, way to happy to maintain the suspense for a little bit longer.

To be perfectly honest, I was actually feeling a bit nervous. I knew they would all be happy for us, but telling them everything was making things so real. I was getting married. Me, the little girl who thought no one could ever love her. And in addition to that, I had loved these two weeks where Killian, Henry and I were the only ones to know about the wedding. I was aware that this quiet period was going to end soon. I knew my parents were only going to talk about the ceremony until the big day, and I needed some time to get ready for the excitement that was going to take control over my family for a while. We had finally agreed on a date for the wedding, and that was why we wanted to tell them everything tonight : time was going fast, and we absolutely needed to send the wizards back home before the ceremony.

"Come on, Emma, tell us what's happening already! Don't we have the right to know before anyone else? We're your parents!" My mom begged, and that made me laugh.

"Believe me, if I'm telling you now, you'll scream so loud everyone in the room will know too. Hell, the entire State will be aware of what's going on." I replied, glancing at Killian, who chuckled at my comment.

"Are you mocking us?" My dad asked a bit suspiciously.

"I wouldn't dare." I said with my best innocent smile, and Killian snorted in amusement. "And you'll see if I'm telling you the truth soon enough." I shrugged, enjoying this situation way too much.

"Will you stop making fun of us!" My dad said in a falsely disapproving way, but the smile he wasn't managing to hide was denying his words. "You can't hide this from us for much longer, and you know it."

I turned to look at Killian and ask him what he was thinking about all of this. I wanted to mock them a little longer, but I really wanted to see their reactions as well. He understood my quiet question, and he leaned forward to whisper to my ear :

"Don't you think it's time, love?"

I enthusiastically nodded and gave Liam to my parents to get out of the booth. We made our way through the crowd, holding hands, to join to diner's bar. When we arrived, Killian jumped on it, and I laughed as he was looking pretty proud of himself, raised above everyone else. Getting on the counter had become a sort of tradition when we had something important to say – it was actually standing on this bar that we had told everyone I was pregnant with Liam. Granny, used to our habit by now, only sighted in despair without saying anything, and Killian reached for my hand to help me get next to him on the counter.

The room got silent in a matter of seconds. I winked at Henry, who was standing next to my parents and was looking overexcited by the situation. I knew he was eager to see his grandparents' reaction, he was actually holding his cellphone in his hand to videotape what was going to happen, and that made me giggle. I was really excited to know what everyone was going to think about the all situation as well. I could easily imagine my mom's excitement and the strict look my dad was going to give Killian for a second before congratulating us.

"Emma! Mommy said I'm not allowed to get on the counter!" Neal cried out from my dad's arms, looking outraged by my behavior.

"I know sweetie, but we're doing it for a reason." I explained with a smile. "We have something important to tell you."

"Oh! What is it?" He asked, a big smile on his face.

"Be patient, honey, you'll know in two minutes." My mom gently reprimanded him, but she was looking as excited as her son was.

"Very well." Hook started, looking quite amused by everyone's questioning looks and taking my hand in his to woven our fingers together. "We've taken an important decision two weeks ago, and we've decided to finally share it with y'all. What we want to say..."

"… Don't scream too loud." I intervened as he was stopping for a second to annoy our friends and make the suspense last longer.

"… Is that we've finally decided to get married."

An amazed silence filled the room for a few seconds. I turned to look at Killian, laughing, then moved back to glance at my parents, who were staring at us in awe. Their lips parted, they were looking so surprised their faces were actually quite funny, and I was happy Henry had thought about videotaping all of this. Neal was the one to break the quiet, and he shouted in excitement :

"A wedding? Awesome!"

My brother's intervention seemed to wake our friends up, because they all started to cheer at the exact same time. I felt myself blushing a little bit, and Killian wrapped his arm around me to pull me closer to him. I looked at Liam, who was clapping as well, even if he didn't really now what was happening. When the noises finally calmed down, Robin started talking with a big smile, looking deeply happy for us :

"Do you have a date for the wedding yet?"

"We thought it would be a good idea to celebrate it at the end of August. Don't worry guys". I added, looking at Harry, Ron and Hermione who were standing in a corner of the room, and my words seemed to comfort them a little bit. "We'll have sent you home back then. We won't give up on you."

They smiled at me and nodded in a quiet thank you, and Killian and I ended up getting off the counter. All of our friends wanted to congratulate us, talk to us and tell us how happy they were to hear these news, and it's only a few minutes later than we managed to escape the crowd and join my parents, who hadn't said anything yet. I smiled at them as Killian was taking Liam in his arms again, and I asked :

"So, what do you think about it?"

"I… I can't believe it. You're going to get married!" My mom stuttered, tears of joy in her eyes. "God, Emma, I'm so proud of you..."

She wrapped her arms around me before I could say anything back and held me tight for a few seconds. My dad joined us after a while, and cupped my head, saying :

"It's wonderful, Emma. I'm so happy for you, congratulations."

He pulled away from me to pat Killian's shoulder in a somewhat awkward manner, and I hid my smile behind my hand. Killian winked at me, guessing that I was finding all this situation very funny, and we shared an amused gaze for a few seconds. The two men hadn't taken a really good start, but they were getting along very well now. David knew Killian was making me happy. He knew he was a wonderful father, and would do anything for his loved ones. He had accepted Killian as a part of the family, and I could not even put words on how happy it was making me, because the man I loved had a family of his own as well, now.

"I knew you would react like that." Henry said, walking toward us with a big smile on his face.

"Wait, you knew? And you didn't say anything?" My dad asked with an eyebrow raised in a falsely disapproving look.

"I would never have betrayed them. They asked me to keep the secret." My son replied with a shrug.

"Henry is Killian's best man." I explained, placing my hand on my son's shoulder. "We want the ceremony to be a way of reuniting everyone we love."

"What about me? Can I do something in the wedding?" Neal asked, looking up to me with his eyes shinning with hope.

"Of course, sweetie, we'll find you something to do, don't worry." I assured him, kneeling on the ground in front of him as he was smiling in happiness.

"Do you understand what it means, little mate?" Killian asked to Liam with a big smile on his face, gently stroking our son's back. "Mommy and Daddy are going to get married!"

"Get married?" Liam repeated without really understanding what we were trying to say.

"Yeah, that means we love each other very much." Killian patiently explained and that made me smile. "There is going to be a great party."

"A party!" Liam shouted, looking overexcited by the news.

"Mommy is going to wear a beautiful white dress. She's going to look like a princess, you know? Everyone will be there, and it's going to be the most beautiful day ever. You're happy?"

"Yeah!" Liam enthusiastically shouted.

I got up to wrap my arm around Henry's shoulder, tears forming in my eyes. All the people we loved would be reunited, we were going to forget about all of our problems for a few hours, and Killian and I were going to prove one more time how much we loved each other. Everyone would know about my pregnancy when we'd get married as well, and everything was changing so fast in my life lately it was a bit disorienting. But I was so happy. My family was looking genuinely glad for us, Henry and Liam were taking the news well, and it was all that mattered for me.

* * *

"Would you take a glass of champagne to celebrate? I'm offering!" Granny asked with a kind smile.

I was sitting next to Killian at the bar, and despite the late hour, the party was still going on. I was eating a piece of peanut butter cake, and was a bit distracted by the delightful sensation of the sweet in my mouth. I was craving peanuts for days now, the day before I had actually eaten an entire pack without even realizing it, and when Killian had gotten me a piece of the sweet without me even having to ask for it, I had been so grateful I had almost jumped on him to kiss him breathlessly. It had made him laugh a lot actually, and he had whispered to my ear that I was definitely so adorable when I was having cravings.

"That's sweet, but I'd rather not drink alcohol tonight. You know, I still have those liver problems, and Whale said alcohol wasn't good for me at the moment." I answered with a smile, telling the old lie Killian and I had invented to explain why I was feeling sick.

"I understand." Granny nodded.

"Is that why you're always sick?" Leroy intervened, drinking at a beer mug a stool away from us.

I absent-mindlessly nodded, too focused on trying not to eat the all piece of cake all at once because I really had to slow down on the sweets, I knew it. He then continued as if everything was absolutely normal :

"And is that why you're gaining weight?"

I let the fork fall into my plate with a loud noise, and stared at Leroy with anger. I couldn't believe what he had just said. I had really thought I had managed to hide my pregnancy, and his rude comment was proving me the opposite. How could he dare talk to me like that?

"Leave her alone." Killian coldly intervened, placing his hand on my leg to ease me because he knew me well enough to guess I was about to get really mad.

I sighted in anger and got off the chair. I was feeling the rage burning inside my chest, stressed by my hormones that, in addition to making me hungry all the time, were exacerbating every emotions I had and were driving me crazy sometimes. Trying not to start yelling, I mumbled :

"You know what? I'm not hungry anymore."

And without waiting for an answer, I walked toward the ladies room to be alone for a little bit. I actually knew why his comment was making me so mad : it meant I wasn't able to hide my pregnancy anymore. I couldn't control the situation, and I deeply hated that.

"Wow, she's touchy!" I heard Leroy saying in my back.

"Shut up, Leroy." Killian dryly answered.

I didn't hear the rest of their argument because I walked into the bathroom and leaned on the sink with a desperate sight. I met my reflexion in the mirror, and winced : my cheeks were red because of the anger and I was looking about to implode from all the emotions. I turned to my side and placed one of my hand on my stomach to see if the situation was really getting out of hand. I sighted when I noticed I was really starting to show, now. I knew it meant the baby was okay, and it was a good thing. But I just would have wanted it to grow a little bit slower so we could have taken care of the wizards before having to tell everyone about the new addition to our family.

I turned my back to the mirror and rubbed my face with my palm. I had to calm down a bit before going back to my friends. I needed to be alone to make sure I wasn't going to get mad. I just had reacted a bit violently after all, and even if what Leroy had said was incredibly rude, it was only the truth. I should have expected it, actually : he wasn't the subtle kind, and I was 15 weeks pregnant, it was normal it was starting to get noticeable.

I heard the door opening and looked up, a bit surprised. I saw Killian walking into the room, my eyes widened, and he immediately started to talk, closing the door behind him :

"Are you okay, love?"

"I don't know if you've missed the memo or something, but this is the _ladies_ room" I replied with a shrug, not answering his question.

"I just wanted to make sure you were all right." He said, smiling because of my comment.

"I'm fine." I sighted in a not so convincing tone. "It's just that… I thought I had managed to hide my pregnancy, you know? Is it really that obvious?"

"We can see your body's changing, darling, but it's normal." He said with honesty, but with a great gentleness. "But it's not only your stomach, you know. There is something special in your eyes when you're pregnant. You're glowing, Swan. We can't really miss that."

"Stop it, you're only saying this to make me feel better." I skeptically said.

"Look by yourself if you don't believe me." He replied, taking my shoulder to make me look into the mirror.

I glanced at my reflexion once again, but quickly looked away with a shrug, not really believing him. He was always telling me that I was beautiful, even when I was waking up in the morning and I knew it wasn't true. But he wasn't lying to me : he was being honest here. He was just so in love with me he wasn't seeing my flaws. I could understand that : I was pretty sure it was the same for me. I looked up to him with a pout to say :

"We really need to say everything to everyone, don't we?"

"I think we should indeed." He answered, playing with one of my hair strand.

"Okay." I finally surrendered, knowing that we didn't have a choice anyway. "We'll talk with Harry, Ron and Hermione tomorrow then. We have to go at Regina's to find a solution, remember? We'll tell everything to everyone after that."

"It's going to be okay, love." He assured me, pulling me closer to him to comfort me. "I promise."

I nodded and pressed a tender kiss on his lips to quietly thank him. He was always there when I needed his support, he knew how I was feeling without me even having to say something, and I was so grateful to share my life with this wonderful man. He placed his hand on my stomach, his left arm wrapped around me, and our kisses became more and more passionate. But we got interrupted by the door opening again, and we startled. We hastily pulled away as if something had just burnt us, and I turned my head to realize my mom was standing at the door with a sheepish smile on her face.

"I didn't mean to interrupt." She winced.

"That's okay." I answered, relieved that it was her and not someone else. "We were just talking."

"It seemed to be a pretty interesting conversation." She said, trying to hide her smile by pressing her lips together.

"Thanks mom, was it really necessary?" I replied, rolling my eyes as she was quietly laughing at her own joke. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"I saw you leave earlier, and you seemed upset. Is everything all right?" She asked, suddenly regaining seriousness to look at me more carefully.

"I'm okay." I sighted as Killian placed his hand on the small of my back to encourage me. "We've just realized we need to tell everyone about the new baby."

"You're right, it's time." She gently answered, and she had barely finished her sentence that the door was opening again.

I looked at my dad entering the room with my eyes widened, not getting what in the damn hell he was doing there. Killian bit his lower lip to avoid laughing as I was stuttering :

"What the hell? It isn't a conference room!"

"Everything's all right? I saw everyone coming here..." He stated as if everything was perfectly normal.

"It's the ladies room, dad."

"Oh, okay, I see." He said, looking falsely upset as Killian was unable to hide his laugh anymore. "Hook has the right to be there but not me?"

"You know what? Meeting's over, go back to the main room. Everything's fine, I promise." I added, seeing that my parents were looking at me with a bit of worry in their eyes. "Come on, get out of here before Henry comes too, it's going to become a family meeting if we carry on like this."

"You seem a bit upset." My dad said as I was pushing him in the back to make him get out of the room faster.

I really wanted us to get out of there. I couldn't even think about our friends' face if someone was finding us all in the bathroom. But my parents didn't seem to be wanting to listen to me, and didn't seem to care a bit about this crazy situation.

"I'm fine! We've just decided to talk about my pregnancy."

"That's what makes you so nervous?" He asked with a little pout.

"No, what makes me so nervous is the thought of someone walking into the room to find us all here." I said, before bursting out laughing when I saw his teasing smile, getting that he was messing with me since the beginning. "Dad!"

"Okay, I'll stop." He said, kissing my forehead before finally getting out of the room.

Killian followed him, still laughing about the entire situation, and as I was walking behind him, my mom grabbed my elbow to stop me. I turned to face her in the little corridor, frowning, wondering what was wrong for her to call me back like that. She smiled at me to reassure me, and started talking in an almost shy way :

"Listen, Emma, I wanted to ask you something about the wedding..."

"Go for it, mom." I encouraged her, wondering what was happening for her to look so embarrassed.

"I wanted to ask you… don't feel forced to accept, baby, it's just an offer."

"Mom, if you're not telling me what's going on I'm certainly not going to accept it." I said with a little smile.

"Sorry." She smiled back, a bit sheepishly though. "I just wanted to know… Would you like to wear my wedding dress for the ceremony?"

My breath got stuck in my throat and I stayed speechless for a few seconds. I didn't know what to answer because I hadn't expected this offer at all. I was so surprised I had no idea how to react, and she stared at me, waiting for me to answer. After a few more seconds, I managed to pull myself together and asked, perplexed :

"Wait, I don't understand… isn't it in the Enchanted Forest?"

"Unfortunately yes." She sighted, looking a bit sad about this statement. "But I've talked with Regina earlier, and she could make you a replica of it… If you agree of course."

"Of course I agree." I answered, deeply moved by her offer now that the idea had finally reached my brain. "God, it would be an honor for me. Thank you so much, Mom. It means a lot to me..."

She took me into her arms, a big smile on her face as if she had been scared I would decline her offer. I placed my head on her shoulder, deeply moved. I was finding her idea adorable. I had wanted a mom my entire life, and I now had an entire family, much bigger that what I could ever have imagined when I was a little girl. I was getting married. I was pregnant with my third child. Despite all of my problems, I could say that I was genuinely happy. I was loving these people so much, it was hard to believe a few years ago, I was alone and unhappy. They were my entire universe, I was loving them more than my own life and I would have done anything for them.

"I'm so sorry it's only a replica..." She whispered as I was pulling away from her.

"Are you kidding, it's perfect!" I cut her off, smiling as well even if I had tears in my eyes. "I wouldn't have been able to wear your dress anyway. I'll be seven months pregnant when the wedding will take place, so it's actually a good thing it's not the real one."

"You're finally going to look like a real princess, dressed like that." She said, her eyes shinning because of the emotion. "God, Emma, I can't even tell you how happy I am for you two. A new baby, a wedding… You've finally found your happy ending, haven't you? After everything you've been through, you deserve it more than anyone."

I didn't answer anything, not wanting to start sobbing and not knowing what to say back. I didn't want to break this beautiful moment. She smiled and gently ran her hand through my hair, saying :

"I'm so proud of you, honey. Go now. Join the others. It's your night."

I took her hand and squeezed it between mine to show her how much I loved to have her by my side. I could see she wasn't expecting me to say anything, she knew I wasn't good with words. She giggled, and pushed me toward the main room with a little smile. I walked into the crowd again, and Killian immediately wrapped his arm around me when I joined him, giving me a new piece of peanut butter cake with a kiss on the top of my head.

* * *

 **so guys, in the next chapter, you'll finally know how Harry, Ron and Hermione got in Storybrooke. The entire explanation will be in chapter 39, but in the next chapter you'll at least know who is behind the wizards' presence and what they want. I hope you liked this chapter, and see you Friday! :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Thanks to oncer4life11, Emilee Amethyst, Araya and Guest for the reviews!**

* * *

"Okay, guys, let's sum up." I started with a little sight. "Aside from the apprentice's wand, to cross realms we can use… Dorothy's slippers."

"Which are in Oz with my dear and loving sister." Regina added, looking like she was about to lose her patience.

"… Magic beans."

"… Which don't exist anymore, in Storybrooke anyway."

"… Jefferson's hat."

"Which we can't find anywhere."

"Do you plan on ruining every damn idea I have?" I asked, raising my eyebrow, a bit annoyed by these constant interruptions.

"It's not my fault if we don't have anything else that this freaking wand to cross realms or open a portal!"

"Well, search for a solution with me, then, instead of pissing me off!" I shouted, rolling my eyes.

"Don't worry." My mom intervened, looking at the wizards, who seemed a bit desperate by of our argument, because it meant we didn't really have a solution to send them home yet. "We're going to find something. I promise."

Sitting at Regina's table, I was absent-mindlessly pecking in a bowl of peanuts laying in the middle of the table. My friends had put it there, knowing that I was craving this food all the time, and it was actually managing to make me a little bit more focused. My brows together, I was trying to think without getting mad or frustrated. Empty pizza boxes were piled up on a corner of the table, proof of our meal that had ended a while ago already. We were there for several hours now, but no one had found an alternative choice to send the wizards back to their world, and Killian and I hadn't managed to find the right moment and tell everyone about my pregnancy. All of this was making me really nervous, I had to admit it, and I was anxiously tearing a poor piece of paper that I was holding in my hands and where I was normally supposed to write our ideas down. Between this dead-end situation and our secret we had to finally reveal, I didn't know what to do anymore. I really wanted to tell everyone about the new baby, now. Hiding my pregnancy was starting to get really heavy, and I knew I would feel so much better when my friends would finally know what was happening.

"We absolutely have to find this wand, we don't have another choice." Regina barked, driving me away from my thoughts.

"God, Regina, we're trying to find it for months!" I replied, trying to stay calm even if my tone was telling everyone that I was getting a bit mad. "We're going in circles right now! We need to find another way, and you know it. I have magic, you too. We're going to find a fucking solution, it's not that complicated!"

"Talk a bit lower, guys, you're going to wake the kids up." My dad tempered, looking up at the ceiling with a bit of worry.

I knew he was right, and I shut up, taking my face in my hands. Liam, Roland, Neal and Robyn were sleeping upstairs, as the reunion was lasting longer than expected. We couldn't wake them up, it was way easier to talk when we didn't have to watch them at the same time. And I really didn't want them to be in the room with us, because the air was literally crackling with nervousness. We couldn't take it anymore, any of us, and we were all about to implode from the stress of the situation.

I sighted and tried to keep calm by gently massaging my temples. I was beginning to get a headache from all this stress, and closed my eyes for a few seconds to relax a little bit. I then started talking in a softer tone again to reassure the wizards :

"I'm so sorry, honestly. We've promised you we would send you home the quicker possible, and we've failed. But we'll do it. It will take time, but we won't give up on you. I promise."

"We know you're all doing everything you can." Harry answered with a sad smile. "You're here every single day trying to help us. You all have kids, and you're often sick, Emma… We could never thank you enough for everything you're doing for us."

"Talking about Emma being sick..." Killian intervened, seeing an opening to finally tell everyone about my pregnancy.

He looked at me, quietly telling me that it was about time for us to finally talk about this. I took a deep breath as he was placing his hand on my thigh to comfort me, because if I wanted to tell everything to the wizards, I was really nervous about their reaction as well, and he was aware of it. I really didn't want to be rude by telling them I was pregnant, but we didn't have a choice anymore. I started talking after a few more seconds spent at trying to gather my strength and finally tell them the truth :

"Yeah, we have something to tell you."

My parents, Henry, Robin and Regina seemed all very focused all at once. They knew what was going to happen, and they stared at me, looking a bit worried as they knew it was a big deal for me to reveal my secret. I took another breath, trying to give myself the courage I was lacking :

 _Come on, girl, it can't be that hard. You've faced much worse. You'll feel better when they'll know everything, you'll see._

"Okay, you've probably noticed some things seem off about me. I'm sick, and I'm nervous, and there's a really good reason for all of this..."

"Mommy! Mommy!"

The kids' screams cut me off, but I didn't even pay attention to the fact I had missed the perfect opportunity to finally divulge my pregnancy. The children seemed utterly scared, and it made my heart skip a beat. They had yelled all at the same time, and I glanced at Regina before jumping out of my chair to go see what was going on, followed by the others.

We arrived in the room where the kids were sleeping pretty quickly. They were all sitting on their air mattresses, their eyes widened in terror, panting. Liam was crying, and I knelt on the floor in front of him to take him into my arms and comfort him, heartbroken by his tears. He wrapped his arms around me and I gently stroked his back, utterly distressed because of his panic.

"It's all right, baby, mommy's here..."

"What happened?" My mom asked, looking all around her to try and find an explanation for all this mess.

"Where is Robyn?" Regina suddenly asked in a worried voice.

I carefully looked around the room, perplexed by these words. I hadn't noticed the little girl's absence, too busy trying to comfort my own son. Something was wrong, and I felt a little pinch in my chest, guessing something bad was going to be revealed. What the hell was happening in this town again?

"Something was in the room." Roland explained, looking panicked and stuttering because of his terror. "It took Robyn!"

"What?!" Robin shouted, not looking like he was realizing what was really going on because of the shock.

"It went through the window." He explained, pointing toward the open glass and the curtains floating around the frame, lifted up by the wind and giving a threatening atmosphere to the room.

Roland hadn't even finished his sentence yet that Regina and Robin rushed toward the window, trying to understand what was happening, their fingers woven together to comfort each other as their world was falling apart. I pulled away from my son, who had calmed down a little bit, to go look outside behind their shoulders. The little girl's disappearance was panicking me, and I couldn't even imagine how Robin and Regina were feeling. I stared at the street, trying to see something through the darkness of the night. And after a few seconds, I ended up noticing a figure standing in the middle of the road.

We didn't even need to confer to know what to do. Regina, Robin, my dad, Killian and I rushed into the stairs while the others were staying in the room to comfort the kids. We got out in the street, and Regina and I used our magic at the exact same time, aiming at the dark figure, who was holding a crying Robyn in its arm. I didn't even think about Whale telling me to use my magic only for emergencies. I had employed my power in an impulse, and the situation was pretty urgent. We needed to protect the little girl. No one could attack a child, it was impossible. The mysterious figure had probably heard us coming, because it amenably jumped on the side to avoid our magic, and the red and white lights disappeared into the darkness without hitting anything.

Everything went really quickly. My eyes first met the wand the figure was holding in its hand. This same wand we were searching for months to send the wizards back home, the apprentice's wand. It was there all along. The stranger had obviously planned to use it to cross realms with Robyn, but it didn't have the time to open a portal because we had noticed the little girl's absence quicker than expected.

I then realized that the hood the figure was wearing on its head had fallen when it had jumped to avoid our magic, and I stayed speechless by what I was seeing. The figure was a woman with red hair, and her face was stiffed in madness.

"Zelena?!" Regina cried out, answering everyone's thoughts.

Robin, Killian and my dad had already run toward Zelena to try and stop her, and we quickly joined them. She was surrounded, but she could disappear at any moment by using her magic. But I could read in her eyes she was scared to hurt Robyn by doing so. She was trying to kidnap her, sure, but she was also her daughter. She didn't want to hurt her.

The little girl didn't wait any longer. Seeing Regina and Robin, she started to kick her biological mother with her little legs. Her attempts were so violent Zelena had to let her go, and she ran toward Regina, crying as her adoptive mother was holding her tight. The Wicked Witch glanced at us, gestured to use her magic but stopped before doing anything, seeing her daughter in Regina's arms. I understood at her expression that she was scared to hurt her again. She finally started talking in a voice distorted by the anger :

"This isn't over."

And she disappeared in a puff of green smoke, the apprentice's wand still squeezed in her hand, leaving us perplexed in the middle of the road.

* * *

"How have we not thought about this sooner?!" Regina got mad, shaking her head while rocking Robyn against her.

The little girl had calmed down after a long while, and she was half asleep in her adoptive mother's arms. We had wondered if it wasn't best for her to erase her memories so she wouldn't be traumatized by the recent events, but we had decided not to do anything for now, as Zelena was still out there. If the witch was coming back, Robyn could recognize her and warn us before anything bad could happen. It was better that way. We couldn't risk for the little girl to be taken by the witch. We had to fight against it.

The other kids had been pretty shocked as well, and none of them had accepted to go back to their room. Neal was cuddled in my mother's arms, Roland in Robin's, and Liam was asleep against Killian, his thumb in his mouth, finally looking peaceful.

As for me, I was leaning forward, my elbows on my knees, trying to process the information we had just received. We had looked for the wand for months without knowing it was there the all time. It was all Zelena's fault. And I was so scared now. Robyn was in danger, but it wasn't all. Because of what I had done as a Dark One, Henry, Liam and my baby weren't safe anymore. Zelena would want to retaliate against me for speeding up her pregnancy all those years ago. And I knew it was going to make my children suffer, I was feeling it in my bones. My stomach was hurting so much because of the stress I was feeling like I could start yelling any time. I was mad because we hadn't thought about this possibility before, and I was so scared to see another person I loved disappear. I hadn't talked in a long time, too busy trying not to start crying in front of my family and the three wizards, who were looking completely lost. But my hormones were making me more sensitive than usual, and swallowing my sobs was getting harder by the second.

"So it means the wand isn't lost somewhere?" Hermione started talking, driving me away from my dark thoughts.

"That was my sister, the all time it was her." Regina whispered, looking so mad at herself for thinking Zelena was gone for good and would never come back. "It's the key to send you home. Defeat Zelena. It's probably her who brought you here, if we think about it. You said you've been transported by a green tornado, right?" She asked as the wizards were quietly nodding.

"I don't get it." My mom intervened, looking a bit lost by this statement. "It's obvious Zelena has stolen the wand to go back to Oz with Robyn. But why bring strangers in Storybrooke? What was she trying to do?"

"I think I know." Regina said, her stare a bit blank as she was lost in her thoughts. "She probably tried to draw the attention away from her for a while by creating another problem in the town. We were so focused about sending you guys back home that we didn't pay attention to what was happening around us. I'm sure we would have noticed Zelena was here way sooner if we hadn't been busy trying to help you."

"But why has she waited for so long before trying to take Robyn?" My dad asked, frowning.

"The kids are always watched by Henry or a grown-up." Killian relevantly answered. "It's the first time in forever that the children were left in a room with no one to take care of them. And if she had tried something during the night, you would have heard someone was coming into your house right away. The moment was perfect for her. We were making too much noise to hear someone coming in. But she had probably thought the other kids would be sleeping and they wouldn't warn us."

"That's my sister." Regina mumbled, pulling Robyn a little bit closer to her. "She's smart, but she's always underestimating her enemies."

"Come on." My mom said to Harry, Ron and Hermione. "I'm going to walk you back to Granny's, you need some sleep. The good news is that we have a way to send you back home, now..."

"The bad one is that we'll have to fight Zelena for that." Regina added with a sight.

My mom nodded, looking deeply concerned, and got up to follow the wizards. They disappeared and we heard them coming out of the house, talking in a low voice.

"Mom, are you okay?" Henry suddenly asked, and I looked up, a bit surprised.

"Yeah, Swan, you haven't talked for a while." Killian stated, carefully looking at me to make sure I was okay. "Is everything all right?"

I felt tears forming in my eyes seeing all these people I loved and who were now in danger because of my mistake. I should never have sped up Zelena's pregnancy. I had acted under the Dark One's curse, and my plan had seemed so clever and perfect back then. I had been careful so the baby would be safe, but the witch was going to take revenge on me, it was obvious. And if I talked about my pregnancy, my baby, Henry, Liam and Killian would be the firsts in line she would hurt, because the witch knew my family was my everything.

Feeling tears threatening to stream down my face and not wanting to show my family how distraught I was, I got up, trying to find an excuse to be alone for a while and cry because I really needed it. I said in a husky and somewhat broken voice, fighting hard against my feelings :

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll make myself some hot cocoa with cinnamon. Do you guys want something?"

"You can make some for everyone." Regina answered. "We all need something to make us feel better after what's happened."

"Do you need a hand?" My dad offered as I was walking away, probably guessing that something was off about me by hearing my voice.

"It's okay, I get it." I said in a low tone before walking out of the living room.

Once in the kitchen, I leaned against the counter, trying to pull myself together. Dozens of horrible scenarios where people I loved were getting hurt were crashing inside my brain. The only solution for Zelena to stay away from me was not to talk about my pregnancy. But she was going to learn about it sooner or later. My stomach was starting to get noticeable, and I couldn't wear sweaters or coats anymore. The weather was becoming very summery, and it was looking like a scorching summer was awaiting for us out there.

Unable to stay calm, I finally started crying, trying to stifle my sobs by placing my hand against my mouth in order not to alarm my family. I couldn't believe I was putting all my loved ones in danger again. Why was I always hurting my close ones? If something happened to the kids or to Killian, it would be my fault and I would never forgive myself. How would I be able to get out of this situation? Why was I never able to protect those I loved?

"Need some help?"

My dad's voice startled me. I was back to the kitchen's door, and I hadn't heard him coming in. He had probably wondered why I wasn't coming back to the living room. I didn't turn to face him, unable to stop crying. The fear was too strong, it was crushing my guts, and I couldn't believe what was happening once again. It was like we could never be truly happy.

"Emma, are you okay?" He added as I was letting go of a husky sob. "Are you crying?"

I finally moved to face David, trying to wipe the tears off my face, but it wasn't really useful as I was still crying. My dad immediately approached me to take me into his arms, looking deeply worried about my behavior. I placed my head on his shoulder, unable to explain what was wrong because my sobs were too violent. He ran his hand through my hair and said in a gentle voice :

"Calm down, it's all right. Stop crying, sweetheart, I'm here, everything's okay..."

He continued to whisperer comforting words to my ear as I was holding him close, incapable of calming down. After a little while, I heard several people walking into the room, and Killian's voice rang into my ear as I was still violently sobbing :

"We've put the children to bed, Robin is watching them. They needed to rest… Swan?"

He had noticed I was crying, and his voice was sounding so appalled. I didn't answer, unable to say anything as I was choking in my own tears, and he talked again in a broken voice :

"Emma, darling, what's wrong?"

My dad moved a little bit, and Killian wrapped his arms around me to hold me tight. I buried my face into the crook of his neck, breathing him and trying to calm down. I knew my panic wasn't good for the baby. He gently rocked me against his chest for a long while, kissing my temple several times and looking deeply sad because of my reaction. Sensing him next to me managed to make me feel better, and Killian asked to my father when I had finally settled down a bit :

"Do you know what's happening?"

"No, she didn't tell me anything. I found her like that."

"Em'" Killian gently resumed, pressing a kiss on the top of my head to comfort me. "Could you tell us what's bothering you? We can't help you if we don't know what's happening."

I pulled away from him, trying to wipe the tears off my drenched cheeks. I saw Regina and Henry looking at each other with concern behind Killian's back. He was himself staring at me, frowning and looking completely panicked by my sadness. I took a deep breath and tried to calm my sobs down to finally start talking, because I knew I had to explain them what was wrong with me :

"Now that Zelena is here… You're all in danger again." I panted, completely desperate.

"Emma, we've been there before..." Regina started, her brows together in concern.

"No, you don't understand!" I cut her off with another sob. "I sped up Zelena's pregnancy when I was the Dark One. She'll retaliate against me. Not only Liam and Henry are now in danger because of that, because she's going to go after my children..."

"I can defend myself, mom!" My son said, shaking his head.

"And we will protect them, Emma, as we always do." Killian answered, looking quite confident about his words.

"… But it's nothing compared to what's going to happen when she'll learn I'm pregnant!" I started without paying attention to their words.

A surprised quiet filled in the room for a second. Regina and my father glanced at each other, and Killian seemed like petrified. It was obvious they hadn't thought the baby could be in danger as well, and they all seemed so scared about this idea.

"She's going to attack the baby to show me how she felt like when I sped up her pregnancy." I resumed, still crying. "Except I've been careful so Robyn would be safe. But her… She doesn't care a bit. If something happens, it's my fault. It's because of one of my mistakes again..."

"Don't say that, love." Killian said, pulling me closer to his chest again to run his fingers up and down my spine and comfort me. "We'll find a solution. We'll hide your pregnancy until we defeat Zelena if we have to. But we will all be safe at the end. I won't let anything happen to Liam, Henry, or the little one. We will protect them, you hear me? Come on, baby, stop crying. It's going to be okay, I promise..."

I could hear he was as distraught as I was, but he didn't want to show me how scared he was in order not to worsen my own fear. I grabbed the back of his jacket to pull him closer to me, forcing myself to stop crying. We would survive this. We were always managing to, and this time wouldn't be different. It was just another crisis. I wouldn't let the witch hurt my children, and I knew my family was thinking the same thing. We would protect them, no matter what. Killian was right. We would defeat Zelena and send the wizards back home. And everything would fall into place again.

* * *

 **PLOT TWIST! I hope you liked the fact that the plot has just changed a bit! It was made so no one could guess the witch was back sooner, and I really do hope you like Zelena's return. The few chapters that are coming are going to be a little bit calmer, but there's a bit of drama coming your way. See you monday for more! :)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Thanks a lot to oncer4life11, Emilee Amethyst and Araya for the reviews! I just wanted to make a little precision because I realized after updating last Friday that I hadn't been clear on a point (sorry about that guys!) : the wizards still don't know Emma is pregnant. After Zelena's appearance, Emma and Killian were too shocked to say something, and they decided to keep the secret about Emma being pregnant (which is going to get complicated as Emma is starting to show). Again, sorry for not being clear, and I hope you'll like this chapter! :)**

* * *

"Good morning, love. How are you feeling?" Killian asked, seeing me walk into the kitchen after getting off my bed. "I'm sorry I haven't woken you up sooner, but you had finally fallen asleep and you really need to rest..."

I approached Liam, who was eating in his baby chair, and kissed his head to greet him before sitting down next to Killian at the table. I leaned forward to press a quick peck on his lips, and he gently placed his hand on the small of my back. It was almost noon already. I wasn't supposed to get up so late, but I had finally managed to fall asleep at sunrise, and I was grateful Killian hadn't awakened me earlier. Saying that we'd had a horrible night was an understatement. We had both been unable to fall sleep, and we had stayed tightly cuddled for hours, trying to comfort each other. We had even gotten up a few times to go take a look at Liam and make sure he was still safe. I had been sick several times as well, the stress making my stomach suffer, and my sicknesses had left me completely exhausted on the bathroom floor. I was terrified, I was so scared I was actually still feeling like throwing up, but I was forcing myself to stay calm : I wouldn't break down again. Crying wasn't doing anything to help us. I had needed to let go of my feelings, because they were crashing inside of my chest and driving me crazy, but it was over now. I was going to keep my energy to find a plan and defeat Zelena. Getting the wand back and protecting my family was the most important thing to do right now. Nothing else mattered.

"Don't apologize, you were right, I needed it." I said with a small smile on my face to ease him as I could guess he was very concerned.

"Are you feeling better?" He asked, moving his hand to place it on my thigh and gently stroked my skin.

He was so worried about me. I knew he was forcing himself to keep calm and not break down under the panic. He wanted to be strong for our family, but I could tell he was so scared of losing one of us. The idea of Zelena attacking someone we loved was hanging above our heads like an invisible threat able to strike at any given moment . We had no idea when she was going to try and take Robyn again, or what she would do to me if she found out about my pregnancy. But we knew deep down we weren't safe anymore. And it was horrifying.

"I'm okay." I answered in a low voice. "What about you?"

"I'm fine." He shrugged, talking in a deep voice.

"Do you know if Henry's okay?"

Henry was normally staying at our place this week, but seeing how panicked I was last night, we had decided it was better for everyone if he stayed at Regina's. I was feeling so sick and I hadn't wanted Henry to see me like that. He was already scared without adding more to it, and I was pretty happy he hadn't witnessed my sicknesses and our panic. And after what had happened to Robyn, Regina and Robin were twice as careful with the kids as they usually were. My son was safe, but I wanted to make sure he was all right. Hearing his voice was going to make me feel so much better, I knew it.

"He called a few hours ago, he's more than okay." Killian gently answered. "He asked me if he could come, he wanted to make sure you were all right. I told him you were still sleeping and I would wait for your opinion."

"Of course he can come." I smiled, my mood improving at the idea of seeing my son. "I'm feeling much better than yesterday already. I really didn't want him to see me like that."

"Hey, everyone has the right to cry from time to time." He replied, tightening his grip on my leg. "I was myself feeling pretty bad last night."

"You know what?" I said, my smile widening after I had nodded, comforted by his words. "I'm going to call Henry and tell him he can come over. We all need to think about something else for a while, and the wizards are going to let us be for a day without arguing after what's happened."

"It's a good idea." Killian nodded as I was taking my cellphone, that was laying on the table in front of me, to call my son. "Do you want something to eat?"

"No, thanks. That's sweet, but I'm really not hungry." I said, placing my free hand on my still painful stomach with a little pout, scared to throw up again if I tried to eat something.

"Let me be clear, here, Swan : it wasn't a question"

I shook my head, quite amused by his words. I knew he just wanted me and the baby to be healthy, but I really couldn't eat anything or I would get sick again, and I really didn't want it to happen now that I was still exhausted by my terrible night. I was about to reply I knew what I was doing when Henry's voice rang into my ear and drew my attention away from Killian :

"Hello?"

"Hey, kid, it's me." I answered in a gentle voice.

"Mom!" He enthusiastically answered, sounding genuinely happy to hear me. "Are you feeling better?"

"Much better." I assured him with a little smile on my face. "Sleeping cleared up my mind. Do you want to come home?"

"Sure, I'll be right there!"

"Do you want us to do something all together this afternoon? I think we should all get our mind off this all mess for a few hours." I offered, because I really wanted to enjoy my family's presence, as I knew that feeling them surrounding me was going to make me feel so much better about what was happening in this town again.

"I'd love that!" He answered, and I could hear he was smiling in his voice. "And mom?"

"Yeah?" I asked, a bit triggered by his tone that had suddenly changed.

"I'm really happy you're feeling better. I hate seeing you like that."

"I know, kid, I'm so sorry I broke down last night." I apologized, biting my lower lip in worry, because I didn't like the fact he had seen be like that at all. "It won't happen again, I promise."

"I wasn't saying that to make you feel guilty!" He vehemently protested. "I just want you to be happy, you know. But it's okay to cry when things are falling apart."

"Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be okay again soon." I reassured him, without believing in my own words, but just wanting to comfort my son. "Zelena doesn't know what we're capable of."

"I know. We're fighters in this family. We'll make things okay again." He said, and I smiled, because I was so proud of the wonderful young man he was becoming. "Okay, I have to go now. I'll be there really soon. I really want to see you."

"Fine, Henry, take your time. See you soon." I said, hanging up the phone with a little smile, deeply happy to have talked to my son and finally feeling much calmer than I was before.

I looked up to Killian as he was placing a plate containing a huge sandwich in front of me. I raised an eyebrow at him and said, a bit amused by his behavior while I had told him I didn't want anything :

"I know you don't want to listen to me, but I'm not hungry, Killian. I feel sick."

"It's not for you, it's for the baby." He shrugged as if his words were perfectly natural.

"You're aware I have to eat the food for the baby to enjoy it, right?" I kindly scoffed, because I was finding his comment way too funny.

"It's a peanut butter sandwich."

I couldn't help myself but giggle. He had said his last sentence as if it was the solution to every single one of our problems. But I had to admit he wasn't wrong, trying to make me change my mind by saying these words. Peanuts were definitely my biggest craving during this pregnancy, and knowing that I could eat some was making me feel so much better. My stomach was feeling less painful, and I was suddenly starving. I glanced at him in a falsely annoyed way and said, shaking my head :

"That's not fair, you know exactly what to do to get what you want."

"I was a pirate, Swan. It shouldn't surprise you." He replied, looking particularly proud of himself.

"Thanks." I simply said with a big smile on my face, getting up to press a tender kiss on his lips.

I gently ran my hand through his hair as he was stroking my back. Killian and my children were actually managing to make me smile, something I wouldn't have thought possible the night before. We stayed quiet for a couple of minutes, mostly because we didn't need words to understand each other anymore. We ended up being interrupted by Liam, who called me to show me his meal was finished, and we pulled away, smiling at our son. I took him into my arms to get him out of his baby chair, and Killian asked with a little sight :

"So I guess we should find a solution to hide your pregnancy until Zelena isn't a danger anymore. You're starting to show, and we have to protect the baby from the witch..."

"That's actually easy." I sighted, giving him Liam, who cuddled into his father's arms with a small smile.

He was looking a lot less cheerful than he usually was. What he had lived the night before had scared him a lot, and I was sure he could sense how anxious we were feeling. I kissed his forehead to try and give him his smile back, and walked away to go look into the hallway wardrobe. I came back in the kitchen a few minutes later, putting on a big sweater that was perfectly hiding my baby bump. It was the only idea I had found, I had thought about it all night long, but Killian looked at me as if I had gone crazy when I walked into the room :

"You can't be serious, Swan! It's really hot outside, and the summer isn't even here yet!"

I looked at the window with another sight. The sun was shinning, and a hot wind was making the branches move peacefully. It was going to be hard to bear, I knew it, but I had to protect my child. And if I had to suffer to do so, it was worth it.

"If you have another way, I'm listening." I shrugged in a low voice. "But for now, it's the only thing I've found."

"But you're going to get really warm wearing this!" He protested, looking genuinely worried for me.

"If it's to protect the baby, I'll do it gladly. I'll survive." I added, seeing how concerned he was looking.

He ended up nodding, looking a bit sad by this decision. I knew this situation was driving him crazy. It was our child I was carrying, and I was the one who had to suffer while bearing it. He would have given anything to help me, but he knew it wasn't possible, and he was finding it so unfair. But he was so sweet with me all the time, he was always making sure I had what I wanted and I was feeling okay, and he didn't know how much he was helping me by just being himself. He approached me and took me into his arms for a few seconds, as if he wanted to show me his support. I snuggled against his chest, his left arm wrapped around me, Liam between the both of us. I was feeling so safe against him. He kissed my temple and started talking again after a few seconds of silence, looking at Liam who was still cuddled into his arms :

"I've thought about something else..."

"Yeah?" I asked, a bit puzzled and pulling away from him to look deep into his eyes while he was leaving his arm around my waist.

"Don't you think it's time we tell Liam you're with child? I know we have to keep it secret, especially now that Zelena is in town, but I think he needs to know. He notices something strange is happening, and I'm scared he's going to get disoriented if we don't tell him anything."

"You're right." I said, winking at my son, who was carefully listening to us, so he wouldn't get too worried. "We should tell Neal too, while we're at it. He's my brother, I think he needs to know."

"That's a good idea to tell them at the same time, actually. Maybe it will be easier for them to understand that way. They are so young, and I'm scared they won't really get it, you know?" He said, pressing a tender kiss on the top of our son's head.

"Yeah, I'm feeling the same way." I answered, wondering how we were going to tell everything to the two little kids.

Killian was right. They were both still very young, and I didn't know how to announce them I was pregnant so they would understand what was going on. I looked at Liam for a few seconds, wondering how he would take the news. It was a big change for him after all, he was not going to be the family's baby anymore. I was really hoping he would take it well, because if he was feeling sad or mad, I knew I would feel guilty, and I really didn't need that on top of everything at the moment.

"Come on, go eat something before Henry arrives." Killian said, driving me away from my thoughts.

I nodded and weakly smiled at him. He pulled away from me, but I put myself on my tiptoe to quickly kiss his lips. I was so scared, but having him near me was helping me so much. I was going to fight, I would not lose another person I loved. It couldn't happen again.

* * *

"Did we do something bad?" Neal asked a bit sheepishly, breaking the awkward silence that had filled in the room.

"No, sweetie, of course you didn't." I answered with a smile to comfort my little brother.

The scene could indeed seem scary to the two little boys. They were sitting next to each other on our living room couch, and Killian and I were facing them, settled on two chairs. Henry and my parents were standing behind us, waiting for us to tell Neal and Liam the big news. I didn't know where to begin, I hadn't found a way to tell them everything yet and I wasn't feeling comfortable at all.

My little brother smiled, looking deeply relieved, and I glanced at Killian, who was looking as embarrassed as I was. I looked at my parents, and my mom quietly nodded, showing me it was time. I took Killian's hand to give me some courage and decided to trust my instinct and not think too much about what I was going to say, because this was making things even more complicated than what they already were.

"We have something to tell you."

"Is it a good news?" My brother asked, frowning in confusion.

"It is." Killian gently answered. "Don't worry, Neal. You haven't done anything wrong."

I smiled at Liam, who was staring at us, looking a bit confused. He hadn't said anything since we had made him sit down on the couch, and he was looking like he was waiting the following part with curiosity.

"Okay." I said, deciding I had to tell them now or I wouldn't do anything because I was too anxious. "What we wanted to tell you is that, very soon, there is going to be a new baby in the family."

"Oh!" Neal said, his eyes widened in excitement. "Who's the mommy?"

"Hum… Well, that's me." I stuttered, a bit confused by this question I hadn't expected to hear.

"Oh, really?" He cried out, a big smile on his face as he was looking genuinely happy. "That's so cool! When will it be here?"

"You'll need to wait a little bit longer before seeing it." Killian patiently answered, and once again I felt so amazed by how good he was with the children.

"Why?" Neal asked, blinking several times in confusion.

"Because it needs to grow a little bit before joining us. It needs to get strong and healthy, you know?" Killian explained.

"Where is it, now?" Liam asked in a little voice, speaking for the first time and showing us he was actually getting what we were trying to say to them.

"For now, the baby is in my belly, sweetheart." I said in a soft voice.

Neal and Liam glanced at each other, looking utterly perplexed by this statement. I waited for a few seconds to see their reactions as they were both looking completely lost, and my brother ended up shouting :

"That's not possible! You're crazy!"

"Neal!" My mom reprimanded him. "Don't talk to your sister like that!"

"But mommy, she's lying!" The little boy defended himself. "She's saying the baby is in her tummy. It's not true!"

I couldn't help myself but giggle at his reaction. It was true that the little boys had never seen a pregnant woman before, and the situation could seem unreal for them. Sure, Neal was there when I was expecting Liam, but he was only one, and he couldn't remember it. They were thinking I was crazy, because having a baby in myself wasn't obvious for them as we had never explained them where babies were coming from. I could easily understand them, and I decided there was only one way to prove to my brother I wasn't lying to him :

"I think it's better if I show you." I said with a smile.

I got on my feet and quickly took off the sweater I was wearing over a black and tight tank top, divulging my curved stomach. I turned to my side so the kids could see more easily and placed a hand under my belly-button to stress the change. Neal's eyes widened even more and his lips parted while Liam was looking a bit perplexed.

"See?" I gently asked. "It's inside of me for now. It's going to grow until it's finally strong enough to come and meet us."

"Woah!" Neal shouted, looking overexcited by the news. "Awesome!"

He jumped off the couch to run toward me, and I sat down cross-legged on the floor so he could touch my stomach. He put both of his hand on my bump, looking deeply happy and still as excited by what we had just explained him.

"Can it feel me?" He asked with curiosity.

"Yeah, and it can hear you if you talk to it too." I smiled, a hand on my baby brother's back. "It's not moving yet because it's still very little, but when it's going to start kicking, I'm sure you're gonna love it."

"You're not saying anything, Liam?" Killian asked, getting up to take our son into his arms. "Do you understand? You're going to be a big brother!"

He was still quiet, but he was looking very focused. Guessing he needed a little help to get what was really happening, I smiled at him and Killian put him next to me on the ground. My son looked a bit shyly at me, and Neal let go of me so I could take Liam's hand and gently place it on my stomach.

"See, sweetheart? There is going to be a new baby in the house soon. You're going to have a little sibling."

Liam looked up to me and a huge smile finally appeared on his face. Taking this as a sign he was getting what we were saying, I gently added:

"Are you happy about it?"

"Yeah!" He shouted before approaching me to snuggle against my chest.

I kissed his forehead, so happy he was taking the news with a smile, and I wrapped my arms around him to hold him closer to me. Killian came to sit down next to us on the floor, and placed his hand on the small of my back, looking very glad by the kids' reactions as well.

"Do you have any questions?" He asked to the children, who were still both looking very excited.

"I have one!" Neal enthusiastically said. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"We don't know yet." I answered with a smile. "We'll know when it'll arrive there."

"I bet it's a boy." Neal said with confidence.

"Well, I bet it's a girl." Henry answered, his eyebrows defiantly raised.

"Calm down, you two." I laughed, relieved that my two sons were so happy about the new baby coming into our lives. "I don't want you to make bets on my baby's gender."

"There is something else." Killian resumed after a few seconds. "We don't want to tell anyone about the baby for now. We want to keep it secret. So you can't talk about it, you understand?"

We both knew it was a bit risky to tell the kids about the new baby because they were still very young, and I didn't know if they were capable of keeping a secret. But they had the right to know. It was an important event, it would have made them feel bad of we hadn't explained anything because they could feel the amount of changes there was in our lives at the moment. I looked at Killian, a bit worried, hoping that the kids would listen to us and not tell anyone about the baby.

"Why?" Liam asked, looking a bit confused by our request.

"Because we want to keep it between us for now." I said, knowing it would be too complicated to explain them what was really going on. "It's like a game. If you talk about it, you lose. Understood?"

My brother and my son enthusiastically nodded. I knew how to take care of little kids now, and I was aware that pretending it was all a game was the best way for them to understand everything and listen to us.

"I have an idea." Henry suddenly said, and everyone turned to look at him. "I think we should give the baby a code name. That way, we can talk about it while other people are around us without them knowing what's really happening."

"Cool!" Neal said, clapping in excitement.

"Okay..." I hesitated, a bit more reluctant than my brother. "Do you have any ideas?"

"I think little princess is a good name, isn't it?" Killian suggested, playing along with the kids.

"We don't know if it's a girl yet." I said, looking at him in a falsely annoyed way. "We all know you want your little princess, but I'm not the one choosing."

It was true that, since the beginning of the pregnancy, Killian was making a lot of jokes clearly meaning he would want a little girl. It had become a little game between us, because I knew he wasn't really caring about the baby's gender, he was already loving his child so much and he was mostly telling those things to gently annoy me. He loved teasing me about it, and I knew he had said that mostly to make me smile. He laughed at my comment and gently stroked my back as I was smiling back at him.

"She's right, Hook." My dad nodded, laughing at his comment.

"Well, I do have an idea." Henry said in a purposely mysterious way.

"You've always been good at finding code names." I laughed, remembering this Operation Cobra that had brought us together at the first place all those years ago.

"I say we call it Peanut. It's good because the baby is still so tiny, and because mom eats peanuts all the time."

I tried to hide my smile, glancing at the bowl of peanuts laying on the coffee table in front of me. I had put it aside for a while to talk with my family, but if I had listened to my stomach, I would have eaten peanuts all day long. It didn't matter how much I had eaten before, I was always starving when I was seeing this food.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I said with a falsely innocent smile.

"So? Do you like it?" My son laughed.

"I think it's a very good idea, kid." I said, placing one of my hand on my stomach and stroking it with my thumb.

"Do you get it, guys?" Killian gently asked to the kids. "If you want to talk about the baby, you call it Peanut, okay?"

"We're like spies! We have code names!" Neal shouted, looking so excited by this game.

I looked up to my family with a smile. I was so happy my brother and my son were taking the news so well. Explaining everything to them had been a lot less complicated than what I had expected, and they really seemed happy for us. I knew the weeks that were going to follow would be long. We absolutely needed to defeat Zelena the quicker possible to avoid putting the baby in danger. But I also knew I could count on Killian and my family. Everything would be okay at the end, as always. My children would be safe. I couldn't be sure of it, obviously, but it was the only thought that was making me feel better and I was hanging on to it as if it had been a life saver.


	18. Chapter 18

**Thanks to oncer4life11, Araya and Emilee Amethyst for the reviews!**

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Leaning against the windowsill in my room, I was looking at the yard in front of me and quietly sighted in discouragement. The air was smelling like summer : the sun was brightly shinning and the birds were joyfully singing in the trees. We were right in the middle of June, but it was really hot outside, and it was not difficult to guess a pretty big heatwave was awaiting for us out there. It wouldn't have bothered me at all if I hadn't found myself in my current situation, I had always liked the sun. Everyone always seemed so much happier in summer. But I was now 17 weeks pregnant, and I was forced to wear big sweaters in order to hide my baby bump. My stomach had become impossible to hide under normal clothes, and the town's citizens couldn't learn about the new baby. But with the weather, it was starting to get horribly hard to keep going that way. I would have given anything to walk outside wearing a simple t-shirt without worrying about people knowing I was pregnant. But Zelena, who was hiding somewhere after her unsuccessful try two weeks ago, had decided otherwise. I sighted once again and absent-mindlessly placed my hand on my stomach to stroke it with my thumb.

 _What wouldn't I do to protect you_ , I thought with half a smile.

"Swan! What are you doing? We're already late!"

Killian's voice startled me, and I turned back to see him walk into the room, Liam in his arms. He put our son back on the ground, and our little boy immediately started to climb on our bed to indulge in his favorite activity : jumping on the mattress, what was usually ending up by a fall and cries.

We had to go to my parents' to talk about the best way to defeat the witch. We had thought about several action plans already, but they had all failed when we had tried to put them into action. We didn't know exactly where Zelena was, we had looked everywhere but she was definitely very good at hiding. I knew deep down running after her wasn't going to help us at all : she would show herself when she would want to, and we had to be ready for that moment. But not doing anything was driving me crazy, especially with my pregnancy that was becoming more and more noticeable, and I couldn't stay still. We had to do something, even if it wasn't really useful. I had to feel like we were controlling the situation, even if I knew it was only an illusion.

"Calm down, Liam." I sighted, lifting my son up and forcing him to sit down so he stopped jumping all around. "You remember when you fell down yesterday? It wasn't nice, was it? So stay still."

My son looked at me like I was the worst mother on earth, and seeing he was about to start whining, I sat down next to him and took it on my lap to avoid his cries. My try worked the way I had hoped it would, because he instantly started to smile and cuddled into my arms.

"I thought you had fallen asleep again." Killian confessed, settling next to me and referring to the fact I was so tired these past few days I could fall asleep anywhere. The other day, he had actually walked away for literally two minutes as we were watching a movie, only to find me asleep on the couch when he had come back into the room.

"With your scream, I would have woken up anyway." I gently teased him, half a smile on my face. "Don't worry, though. I'm almost ready."

I gave him Liam to get up and go put on the big sweater that was laying on the back of a chair. Killian looked at me, frowning as I was rolling my sleeves up to keep the colder possible. But I had to do it, it was the only thing allowing me to protect my baby from Zelena. He glanced at me, looking so sorry, and said as I was approaching him :

"I'm so sorry you have to live that kind of things, love, really. If only I could do something to help you..."

"I'm fine." I shrugged, deciding to pretend that everything was okay in order no to worry him even more. "I'm only a bit warm, I'm going to survive. And you help me a lot just by being there, I'm telling you." I added, and that made him smile a little bit as he was placing his hand on the small of my back. "What mostly worries me is the fact we can't go on like this forever. My pregnancy is going to get noticeable sooner or later, even with the sweaters on. And then, I have no idea how we are going to do..."

"We'll find a solution." He promised, without really looking that convinced himself but I knew he was trying to comfort me. "Don't worry about that. And we'll manage to defeat the witch soon, I know it. We've done it several times already..."

"Yeah, we did such a good job she came back." I skeptically jeered.

"I know." He said with a small smile because of my comment. "But try to stay calm for now, okay? I really don't want you to worry too much. It's not good for you nor the little one."

I slowly nodded, touched by his concern, and he took my hand to hold it for a few seconds, pressing a light kiss on it to comfort me. I didn't even know how to tell him how important it was for me he was always there beside me. I would probably have gone crazy without him, but he was always there to reassure me when I was feeling bad or scared. He was always taking me into his arms when I was having one of my nightmares in which Zelena was hurting someone I loved. He was whispering comforting words in my ear, promising me everything would be okay and he would never let anyone hurt me. Sometimes, he was so convincing I was actually believing him. I sighted, turned my head to look at the clock and said :

"We should go. Regina is going to kill us if we're late."

He nodded with a smile, and we walked down the stairs to find Henry, who was already waiting for us in the hallway. When I opened the front door, the heat of the day hit me like a punch in the stomach and I slowly walked toward the car. I didn't know if I was going to be able to keep going like that for much longer. My hormones suddenly made my mood change completely, and I mumbled, a bit angry :

"It's gonna be a long day."

Killian didn't answer anything but looked at me in worry before leaning forward to press a gentle kiss on my temple. It wasn't much, but his support made me feel a bit better. I forced myself to smile to comfort him and climbed into the yellow bug with a discouraged sight.

* * *

We were the last ones to arrive at the little meeting happening at my parents'. Harry, Ron and Hermione were already sitting on the living room couch, looking deeply anxious. We had a way to send them home now, but we didn't know when we could use it, and I could easily understand their worry. Regina was pacing in the room, obviously in a bad mood, and she started talking at the moment we walked into the loft :

"It's about time!"

"I knew you would bitch about it." I said, rolling my eyes in annoyance.

"Well, next time try to be there on time, then."

"We're here to find a solution, not to argue." My mom tempered at the time I was opening my mouth to reply something, wanting to avoid a real argument. "We have too many problems to moan because they are late. They are here now, and it's the most important."

I nodded, aware that she was right and closed my mouth with a sight. I walked into my parents' room to say hi to my brother, who hadn't heard us arriving, to busy playing with his toys. I put Liam next to Neal on the floor where a huge amount of toys was scattered, and my baby brother smiled at me, wrapping his arms around my neck to greet me :

"Emma!" He shouted as I was gently stroking his back, moved by how happy he looked every time he was seeing me.

"How are you, sweetie?" I asked with a little laugh because of his enthusiasm.

"Great! And you?"

"I'm fine." I said with a small smile.

"And how is Peanut?"

He tried to wink at me but failed and closed both his eyes at the same time, and I burst out laughing. My brother was definitely very happy to play this code name game, and I had to admit his reactions were making me laugh a lot. The kids were brightening up my days. My family was helping me staying positive while I had the feeling I could break down sometimes, and I was so happy to finally be surrounded by people I could trust and who loved me. I had waited for that my entire life, and even if we had to face pretty difficult situations in this town sometimes, I was so happy to know they were by my side, always.

"It's really fine." I gently answered, playfully fluffing his hair to tease him.

"Peanut?" Ron asked as he had heard our conversation and probably wondering what we could be talking about.

"Yeah, it's, hum… Liam's golden fish." I lied, getting on my feet to walk back into the living room. "He's very attached to it."

"A fish who is called Peanut?" He said, looking at me as if I had gone completely crazy.

"Hey, don't question a two-year-old's tastes"

I saw Killian hiding his laugh behind a fake cough, and I had to force myself to keep serious so Ron would believe the excuse I had made up. I approached Hook and placed my hand on his back to share a smile with him as my family and I were looking at each other, eyes sparkling in amusement.

"Okay, let's talk." My mom started, changing the subject and giving us the opportunity to calm down a bit by doing so. "We need a plan."

"You're not taking your sweater off?" Ron asked me, staring at me with a frown and not paying attention to my mom, who glanced at him with an eyebrow raised in annoyance.

"No, it's fine." I casually answered, hoping this would be enough for him to stop asking questions.

"Fine? It's super warm outside, it's crazy!" He protested, shaking his head.

"She's skittish." Killian shrugged, coming to my rescue and placing his hand on the small of my back as if he wanted to shelter me from Ron's questioning look.

"Yeah, but..."

"Okay." Regina cut him off, rolling her eyes. "Are we here to try to send you back home or to talk about Emma's wardrobe?"

I glanced at her to quietly thank her for her intervention. I didn't really know what do to explain the wizard why I was dressed so warmly while the weather was so beautiful. Ron pulled himself together and his sheepish expression worsened when he saw how mad Hermione was looking.

"Okay." The witch said, shifting away from her husband and shaking her head, still looking a bit angry because of his behavior. "Do you have any idea of what we could do to defeat Zelena?"

"We have to know where she is hiding before trying anything." My mom said, biting her lower lip in worry.

"We already know she's not in the house she was living in before." My dad said, probably in a try to reassure everyone. "It's a good start. She's probably hiding somewhere in the forest."

"Did you see how big the woods are?" Regina replied, her eyebrows raised and still looking deeply nervous. "It would take us days to finally locate her"

"It's better than staying here doing nothing." Killian stated with a shrug.

Thinking with the others about what we could do, I walked toward the kitchen to take an orange that was laying in a bowl of fruit on the counter. I then approached my friends again, absent-mindlessly handing the fruit one hand from another, biting the inside of my cheek to try and focus more easily.

"Killian's right." I said, looking at my family without really seeing them as I was trying to stay optimistic. "We need to do something. We outnumber her, and a lot of us can use magic. She can't do much against us, especially now that we know she's here for Robyn."

"You can tell whatever you want, but as long as we don't know where she is, we can't do anything against her." Regina winced.

"Well, the best thing to do is to have a plan for when she'll decide to show herself, then." I countered. "We'll be waiting for her, and we'll be so ready we'll defeat her."

"I think it's the best thing to do for now." Harry nodded, looking a bit lost in his thoughts as his expression was a bit blank because of his concentration. "Let's just hope she won't stay hidden for much longer. I would like to go back to my home before the end of the year"

I smiled at his comment, still throwing the fruit in the air and catching it with my other hand without really realizing it. I was hoping to find a solution very quickly, not only to finally tell everyone about my pregnancy, but also because I was feeling very bad for the wizards. Being apart from their families was a real torture for them, and I was feeling guilty not to be able to do anything to help them for now. I was feeling helpless, and it was awful.

"Okay, y'all are going to say I'm changing the subject again." Ron said, looking up to me and driving me away from my thoughts. "But you're going to eat this orange soon, right? Seriously, stop it, it's driving me crazy."

"You really have something against me toda..."

My joke got stuck into my throat, and I almost choked on my own breath. I had just felt a kick in my stomach. It was very slight, but I was sure I hadn't imagined it. Of course I was expecting that kind of thing to happen, because I was already in my 17th week of pregnancy, and babies were always starting to kick around that time. But I had never thought it would happen in public, while we were thinking about a plan and were supposed to focus. And it was making me so happy. It was kicking. My baby was actually kicking, it was there, inside of me, and I was already loving it so much.

Everything went very fast. I forced myself not to place my hand on my stomach, what would have completely ruined our try to keep my pregnancy secret, but I grabbed Killian's wrist to calm me down a bit, and let go of the fruit, that fell on the floor in a muffled sound.

"Love, are you okay?"

I pulled myself together the faster possible and quickly let go of Hook's wrist to avoid questions. Unfortunately, everyone had noticed my strange behavior, and they were all looking at me as if I had suddenly changed into a ghost.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I… I just blacked out for a second." I lied in a shaky voice, trying hard not to smile like an idiot.

I squatted to pick the orange up and try to settle down a bit as my heart was pounding in excitement in my chest. I didn't know if I was going to start crying or laughing. It was my third pregnancy, sure, but feeling the baby's kicks was always so magical. Killian placed his hand on my shoulder and asked, looking deeply worried :

"Are you sure you're okay? You seem weird..."

I looked up to him and offered him a huge smile, but it didn't seem to reassure him at all. I could actually easily understand him : I was probably looking like a mad woman for the people who didn't know what had just happened. He reached for my hand to help me get up and stared at me with a frown. I really wanted to find an excuse and get out of the loft for a bit to share this special moment with him : he was the father, and it was such a magical moment because it was making everything so real. We were having a new baby. And I could easily remember how glad he was to feel Liam kicking when I was pregnant with our son. He was going to be so happy about the news. He needed to know.

"I'm going out for a bit, I need some fresh air." I said, panting a little bit. "You coming with me?"

"Of course." He answered, still looking concerned and following me as I was crossing the apartment's door.

I ran down the stairs, not managing to control myself because I was too excited to tell him what was going on, and I waited for him at the bottom of the stairs, bouncing up and down with a big smile. He joined me a few seconds later and placed his hand on my waist, asking me in worry :

"What's wrong, baby? You're not feeling well?"

I shook my head to comfort him and looked all around me to make sure we were alone. The hallway was empty, but I still dragged him behind the staircase so no one could hear or see us.

"No, I'm fine, I just needed an excuse to get out of there. The baby has kicked for the first time." I whispered, smiling as I was myself putting my hand on his chest.

"What? Seriously?" He said, his eyes widening in awe and he immediately placed his hand on my stomach.

I mentally prayed for the baby to move so he could feel it too, but nothing happened, and I pouted. I shrugged, a bit sad as I was seeing his look of disappointment because I really wanted to share this moment of joy with him and it wasn't the same if he wasn't feeling the baby as well.

"It's okay, babe, I'm sure it'll move again very soon." I comforted him, my other hand landing on his forearm. "I just wanted to tell you. I thought it was important."

"I know." He said, looking up to me with sparkling eyes, looking deeply moved by the situation. "It's really great."

Without even thinking about what I was doing, I pulled him closer to me to press my lips against his. The baby's first kick had put me in such a good mood, and I just wanted to feel him against me and enjoy the touch of his skin against mine. He kissed me back, so passionately that my back hit the wall behind me. He was definitely very happy as well. I laughed through our kiss and ran my hands down his chest, grabbing his waist to glue my body to his. The baby suddenly kicked again, and Killian, who had left his hand on my stomach, pulled away from me, his eyes widened in awe. He stayed still and quiet for a few seconds, stroking my bump, and I smiled at how adorable he looked. He then started to move again, and he held me close to resume his kisses. I felt his hand making its way under my sweater, then my shirt, and his fingers finally met my skin. I moved to take his jacket off as his lips on my neck were making me moan in pleasure, and it fell down on the ground. Nothing else mattered that being close to him. I didn't even know where I was anymore. I just wanted to be with him, and I wasn't even thinking about the fact we were in a public place and anyone could find us in that position.

We got interrupted by steps ringing in the stairs, and we hastily pulled away from each other. We shared a look as we were just realizing where we actually were, his hand still on my back, mine in his hair, as my skin was still burning from lust. I looked on my side to see who was coming, and recognized my father walking into the hallway, his back to us :

"Emma? Hook? Are you there?"

"If we answer him and he finds us here like that, we will never hear the end of it." I whispered, biting my lower lip to try not to laugh, what would have made David come in our direction.

Killian nodded, silently laughing as well, and I placed my head on his shoulder to stifle my giggles as his hand was still under my shirt. My dad ended up going out of he building, probably thinking we were outside. I pulled away from Killian, and he kissed my lips one last time before we both went out of our hideaway, still laughing like two teenagers. I kept his hand in mine as we were walking up the stairs to finally join my parents' loft.

"Emma!" My mom said when she saw us crossing the door, still smiling like two perfect idiots. "Are you okay? You stayed out there for a very long time, we were beginning to worry. Your father went to search for you. You haven't seen him?"

"No, we haven't." I lied, biting the inside of my cheek to erase my smile. "And I'm fine, I just needed some fresh air.

"Are you sure you're okay? Your cheeks are really red." Henry asked, raising an eyebrow at me, guessing that something was off about us.

I looked into the mirror hanging on the back of the front door to watch my reflexion. My son was right. My cheeks were bright red, and I placed my hand on them to try to cool them down a bit. My heart was still pounding very fast in my chest and I was feeling a bit dizzy. But I knew I needed to calm down if I didn't want my close ones to start asking embarrassing questions.

"It's because of my sicknesses, you know what it is..."

I looked at Killian, who was trying hard not to start laughing. Regina skeptically stared at us for a few seconds, and I answered her with my best innocent smile. Hook finally let go of a chuckle, but he covered it with a cough, mumbling something about a _bloody cold_ that had never existed.

I was finding it so beautiful that after years spent together, two kids and a third on its way, we were still madly in love with each other and behaving like two teenagers who were living their first love. We looked at each other, biting our bottom lips, and he placed his hand on the small of my back to pull me a little bit closer to him. The conversation started again, and we talked about more serious things. Despite all my efforts to calm down, my cheeks were still burning and my heart kept on pounding, exacerbated by Killian, who was playfully running his fingers up and down my spine to kindly tease me.


	19. Chapter 19

**Thanks to oncer4life11 and Araya for the reviews! and sorry for the little mistake yesterday, I updated here a chapter from my other fic (that is in french), and I felt so dumb afterward xD anyway, hope you'll like this chapter! :)**

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Sitting at my desk at the station, my head in my hand, I was staring at the blank page in front of me without really seeing it. I really needed to find a way to defeat Zelena, I didn't have a choice. Regina, Robin, my dad and Killian had gone in the forest to look for the Wicked Witch while my mom and the wizards were in the loft with the kids and were trying to think about a plan. How inefficient we were had made me pretty mad, and I had decided to go alone in order not to start yelling at my poor friends who had nothing to do with my nervousness. My hormones were driving me crazy lately and I could get mad surprisingly easily. Killian was usually always there to ease me by a hand on my back or discreet and gentle strokes, but this time he wasn't with me and I needed to control myself so the wizards wouldn't start asking themselves even more questions about my strange behavior. But withdrawing from my friends hadn't really made me feel better. I was in the station for more than an hour now, and nothing was happening. I was getting distracted by everything : the birds singing outside, the ventilation noises, the heat. I had taken off the sweater I was still wearing over my clothes to hide my pregnancy, of course, but even in a tank top it was so hot I couldn't even think clearly.

Discouraged, I leaned against the back on my chair to stretch my muscles. My stomach started to rumble, and I suddenly realized I was absolutely starving. I hadn't eaten since breakfast, and it was past noon. I grabbed my purse that was laying on the desk next to me to look for the chocolate bar I had taken with me before going out of the house, eager to finally swallow something.

I looked everywhere, but I didn't find anything eatable in the mess that was my bag. I let the purse fall on the floor with a pout, realizing I had probably forgotten the sweet on the kitchen counter instead of actually taking it with me. I was so unfocused these past few days I sometimes wanted to slap myself to clear my head up. This pregnancy was definitely really hard to combined with the crisis we had to face, and I had the feeling I was going crazy.

I sighted, realizing I would lose a precious time going to Granny's to get something to eat. I would usually have used my magic to get me something, but Whale had told me I could only use my powers in case of emergencies, and I didn't want to disobey this order. It was for the baby's sake, and I would have done anything for it to be healthy. I then looked at the piece of paper laying in front of me again and nervously hit the table with my pen.

 _Okay, girl, you'll have the right to go eat something when you'll_ _have found an idea to fight Zelena. Maybe it will motivate you._

But it didn't work. I was feeling like I had a huge hole in my stomach, and it was hurting like hell. I was dizzy because of my hunger and the heat, and my mind felt a bit blurry. The baby kicked in my stomach, as if it was protesting against the fact I was trying to fight against myself. I placed my hand on my baby bump and mumbled :

"I know, I'm starving too. But don't put too much pressure on me, please. I need to finish this thing."

My words didn't seem to ease it at all, and it continued to kick, more and more violently. I decided to ignore it, but once again it didn't work as I had hoped it would. Feeling it moving so much inside of me wasn't helping me to concentrate at all, and I was feeling a migraine coming my way. I really needed to eat something. I would usually have forced myself to stay where I was in order not to lose any time, but I was pregnant. It was the baby's health I was putting in danger by refusing to eat something.

I then got off my chair and started opening every drawers of the station to see if it was containing any kind of food. My gestures were a bit violent, and I was making such a din by slamming every drawer on my way that I even startled myself a couple of times. I really didn't want to go to Granny's, time was precious in our situation. But as I had expected it, I didn't find anything, and I sighted, placing a hand on my stomach to talk to the baby :

"Okay, you won, let's go to Granny's. You happy now?"

It kicked as an answer, and I rolled my eyes in annoyance. _It's like it's mocking me. If this kid already starts to be sassy, it's not going to be easy when it will be born._ I put both my hands on my waist and walked toward the coat hanger to take my sweater with a frustrated sight, because I had to put it on while my tank top was already sticking to my skin. But the sound of the front door opening made me stop immediately. I didn't know who was coming, and I was wearing a pretty tight top while I was 19 weeks pregnant. My stomach was impossible to miss in these conditions. I looked all around me and realized I didn't have the time to go take my sweater before the mysterious guest arrive into the main room. So I quickly threw myself on a chair and glued my chest against the desk, hoping it was hiding my rounded-out belly.

I waited to see who was coming my way, my leg bouncing up and down in nervousness, and I sighted in relief seeing my mom entering the room. I instantaneously relaxed and pulled away from the desk that was compressing my body, a hand on my stomach as I was finally breathing again.

"Seriously, tell me it's you next time." I moaned, rolling my eyes, definitely in a very bad mood. "I thought it was someone who didn't know about my pregnancy, you made me panic."

"Emma..." My mom started as I was getting up my chair, continuing to talk without paying attention to the fact she had just called my name.

"I was about to go to Granny's to get something to eat, 'wanna come with me?"

"Emma, I have something to tell you."

My heart skipped a beat and a shiver made my teeth crash into my mouth. Her voice had rung quite strangely, sounding utterly worried. I was suddenly having a bad feeling about her presence in the station, and her concerned look made me guess that something was definitely wrong. She was biting her lower lip and was looking very worried and quite embarrassed, and it made me so scared I didn't even know what to do with myself anymore.

"What's wrong?" I asked in a somewhat shaky voice.

"Emma, I'm… I'm so sorry." She stuttered, looking so ashamed, and it made me worry even more. "It's Liam..."

"Tell me what the hell is going on!" I cried out as my stomach was getting more and more painful and I was feeling like throwing up, hearing her talking about my son.

"He fell over." She hesitated, looking at me as if I was going to jump at her throat. "On the head. He was bleeding a lot, so I took him to the hospital, and..."

Suddenly, nothing else mattered around me. I placed my hand on my stomach as my breath was getting stuck in my throat. I wasn't hungry anymore, nor hot. I was just thinking about my baby boy who was hurt, and I wanted to start yelling in panic.

"Why haven't you called me?!" I shouted, taking my cellphone who was laying on my desk.

"I tried, but you weren't answering…

Her comment was completely useless. I let go of a "Fuck!" when I noticed she had tried to call me dozen of times, and I suddenly wanted to punch myself for always putting my phone on vibration mode when I was working to focus more easily. Because of that, my son was at the hospital right now, and I should have been with him.

"Who's with him?" I asked, feeling tears forming in my eyes from the distress I was experiencing. "Please, tell me he's not all alone there..."

"No, don't worry, Henry is with him. I called Hook, he must already be on his way with David..."

"But how did it happen?" I asked in a broken voice, a huge lump in my throat preventing me from breathing normally.

"I'm so sorry, Emma." She said, looking like she was about to start crying. "I… it's all my fault. I was talking with the wizards, and I didn't watch him for a few minutes. He climbed on a chair, and it fell. He hit his head against the coffee table..."

"You didn't watch him?!" I yelled, so hard that my voice broke from the anger. "He's two! You can't leave him all by himself!"

I was trusting my mom. I had never thought something could happen to Liam while he was with her. But I had been wrong, obviously, and I was so mad at myself for thinking I could trust her. I was very angry at her too, actually. I was feeling like she had betrayed me grandly, and because of her my son was hurt.

"Emma, I..."

I didn't let her finish her sentence and rushed toward the door to get out of the station. I was just hoping things weren't too bad. Liam had never been to the hospital before, he had never hurt himself badly, and the situation was making me panic so bad I was feeling sick. I needed to go and join him the quicker possible, my little boy needed me.

"Emma..."

"What?!" I barked, turning to face my mom with my hands in a fist.

"Your sweater, honey..."

"Son of a bitch." I mumbled, turning to walk back to the coat hanger and putting on my sweater before running to my car, my mom following me.

I started the engine without even waiting for her, and she got into the car as I was about to start driving. I was feeling like nothing else was important anymore : Liam just needed to be safe. And I was so angry, I was feeling the anger burning inside of my chest, as if I was an erupting volcano. I was blaming my mom, I was so, so mad at her because it was all her fault. And having her next to me in the car wasn't helping me to calm down at all.

The short trip to reach the hospital took place in an awkward silence. The foot glued to the accelerator pedal, I didn't even care about the fact I could have an accident by driving at this crazy speed. I was just thinking about my son at the hospital, he was probably calling after his parents, and this thought was breaking my heart. I needed to go and comfort him, it was my job.

"I'm so sorry, Emma." My mom started in a sheepish voice, breaking the silence.

I didn't even bother answering, looking around for a place to park my car. I really didn't want to talk to her. I was already in a bad mood before she came to tell me the news, and now I was about to explode. I was scared to say something I would regret if I answered her right now.

"Are you mad?"

The sentence finally made me lose my chill. I had tried to control myself, but it was too much for me. The hormones, the stress I was feeling about the wizards and Zelena in town, the heat and my panic because I was terrified that Liam was badly hurt finally took control over me. I grabbed the wheel to stop my need to punch something, and started yelling without really thinking about what I was saying :

"If I'm mad? What do you think?! I left you with my son, I trusted you, and he finishes at the hospital! How would you feel if Neal got hurt while he's with me, tell me? You left him all alone, for fuck's sake! It's not something you do! Are you completely insane? What the hell where you thinking?! It's all your fault if he's here, damn it! So of course I'm mad!"

I stopped talking, panting because of the anger, my stomach so painful I was feeling about to throw up, and got out of the car by slamming the door behind me. I had the time to notice the hurt expression on my mom's face before rushing to the hospital entrance without paying attention to her.

I had barely walked into the hallway that I crashed against someone who was standing in my way. I almost lost my balance, stunned by the shock, and a hand grabbed my waist so I didn't fall on the ground. I recognized the familiar feeling of Hook's hand before even seeing him, and I looked up to meet his worried gaze. He seemed as terrified as I was, but he made sure I was all right before starting to talk. I didn't wait any longer and grabbed his forearm, panting :

"Do you know where he is? Is he okay?"

"I don't know, I just arrived here two minutes ago." He said, looking all around him to try and find someone who could help us. "Are you okay?" He worried and I vigorously nodded, not even thinking about complaining, even if my body was still aching a little bit because of the impact.

"Mom! Killian!"

Henry's voice made us turn at the exact same time. I took Killian's hand and intertwined our fingers together to comfort myself, and ran toward my son with Killian by my side.

"How's your brother?" I asked in a muffled voice.

"He's okay. It's fine. He's hurt, but it's not bad. I think he's mostly scared. He's calling after you." He confessed, looking worried. "Come with me, I'll take you to him."

My son briefly placed his hand on my shoulder to reassure me and shared a comforting look with Killian before starting to walk. Hook squeezed my hand tight and I looked at him with tears in my eyes. We arrived pretty quickly in front of a closed door, and Henry stepped away to let us in. I opened the door to find Liam sobbing, sitting down on an examination table. My dad was in the room with him, and was trying to comfort him. At the exact moment he saw us, my son started to shout :

"Mommy! Daddy!"

I approached him and took him into my arms, holding him close to me. He had a pretty big wound on his forehead and it was bleeding a lot, but aside from that, he only had a few bruises and I knew it could have been much worst. He cuddled into my arms, still crying, and I whispered without paying attention to the blood that was starting to stain my sweater :

"It's okay, baby, I'm here..."

Hook came to place his hand on our son's back and started whispering comforting words in his ear, kissing him on the top of his head to try to console him. I glanced at my father, who was still standing next to the examination table. He was holding a cotton with blood spots on it, and I guessed he was trying to stop the bleeding when we had come in. He approached us, looking quite worried, and informed us :

"Whale should be there any minute, he said Liam needs stitches."

"There's no need." I answered, before adding seeing how perplexed he was looking. "I can heal him with my magic."

"Emma, are you sure?" Killian asked, frowning and placing his hand on the small of my back. "Whale said you shouldn't use your powers unless there's an emergency. I'm scared something would happen to the baby…"

"It's an emergency." I countered, looking deep into his eyes to make him understand my point. "And it doesn't ask me a lot of strength to do that. I don't want him to have a scar if we can avoid that. And he's in pain. I just want him to feel better..."

Hook wavered for a few more seconds but ended up nodding, as heartbroken as I was by our son's tears. I laid Liam down on the table, but he started to sob even stronger, wriggling to go into my arms again. I felt a little pinch in my chest seeing him like that, and I gently stroked his hair to comfort him :

"I know it hurts, sweetheart." I said in a soft voice, trying to hold back my own tears. "But you need to stay still for a little while, okay? Mommy is going to heal you."

He didn't listen to me, and was still frantically moving. I sighted, feeling so helpless, and turned back to Killian to ask him, tears in my eyes :

"Can you hold him for a sec? It will only take a few minutes, but I can't do anything if he keeps moving like that."

He nodded and gently grabbed Liam's shoulder to force him to stay put. Our son started to cry even louder, and I felt a huge lump forming in my throat. I closed my eyes for a second to focus, trying to ignore my fear and my distress. My son needed me, and I had to be strong for him. Seeing me cry wasn't going to help him. So I pulled myself together and moved my hand just in front of Liam's face. When I let my arm fall on my side, he was completely healed. I checked him and healed every single one of his bruises. My son's cries finally calmed down a bit and had almost gotten quiet when I finished my task. I took him back into my arms and kissed his forehead to comfort him.

"It's over, Liam. See? It's not hurting anymore."

I rocked him for a very long time against me, and he ended up calming down completely. My heart was still pounding really fast in my chest, and I sat down on the examination table, my legs a bit too weak to support my weight. Killian, who knew I was fighting against myself in order not to start crying, placed his hand on the small of my back and gently stroked it. After a while spent in a perfect silence, I looked at my little boy to realize he had almost fallen asleep, his thumb in his mouth. It's in that moment that Whale finally entered the room, panting a little bit :

"Sorry for the delay, I had an emergency. But we're going to heal the little one, don't worry."

"It's okay." I said in a low voice in order not to awake my son but also because I was still feeling like crying and my voice was a bit shaky. "It's already done."

"What?" He said, looking a bit appalled by my words. "It's like I'm not even useful in this town anymore. I'm still going to check on him to make sure he's all right, okay?"

I nodded and placed my son on the table, what completely awakened him. He stared at us, looking a bit lost and worried, and Killian said, gently stroking his back :

"The doctor is going to look at you to know if you're all right, okay, Liam? After that, we'll go home."

"Can I have a lollipop?" My son asked a bit sheepishly.

"Of course, baby." I said, forcing myself to smile at him. "You just have to be a good boy for a little while, understood?"

I pulled away from him, Killian by my side, as I was feeling the tears starting to form in my eyes. Now that everything was almost over, I couldn't control my emotions anymore. Killian guessed how bad I was feeling, and he gently took me into his arms as I was cuddling against his chest, my face buried in his neck to stifle my sobs. He kissed my forehead and gently ran his hand up and down my back, and I could feel he was forcing himself not to start crying with me. Whale didn't take long to look at Liam, but it gave us enough time to calm down a little bit. We really didn't want to worry our son. The doctor said it was okay to take Liam home as he was absolutely fine, and we let go of a sight of relief at the exact same time. Killian lifted Liam up, and we left the room, our son snuggled into his arms.

My mom was awaiting for us, standing in the middle of the waiting room, and was looking particularly nervous. She glanced at me in worry, but I chose not to answer her. Now that I knew Liam was okay, I was realizing I should never have talked to her the way I had done earlier. She had made a mistake, it could happen to everyone. But I still couldn't believe she had left him all alone, and I decided to calm down a little bit before apologizing for my behavior.

"Is he okay?" She asked, trying to seem calm even if I knew she was about to start crying, and gently running his hand on Liam's arm.

"Emma healed him with her magic. He's more than fine." My dad said with a gentle smile, leaning forward to press a kiss on her forehead and calm her down.

"Thank god." My mom sighted in relief, her free hand pressed against her chest.

"What do we do now?" Henry asked, looking deeply relieved as well. "We're going home?"

"Swan, are you okay?" Killian suddenly said, raising his eyebrow at me without answering my son. "You look very pale."

I was feeling dizzy. All the emotions I'd had in such a little amount of time and the fact I hadn't eaten yet were making the world spin around me. I almost lost my balance, and my dad grabbed my shoulder to help me stay on my feet. His other hand on the small of my back in case I would fall, he drove me to a seat and made me sit down. I looked up at the ceiling, my hand on my forehead, taking some deep breaths and trying to calm down. Killian gave Liam to my father and squatted in front of me, his hand on my knee.

"What's happening, sweetheart?" He asked in a muffled voice because of his worry. "Is it because you used your magic? You're not feeling well? You want me to call Whale?"

"I'm okay, it's nothing." I assured him with a little smile to comfort him a bit. "I just haven't eaten in hours, and I'm starving. It must be why I'm feeling bad. It's not a big deal, don't worry."

"Let's go get something to the cafeteria, then." My dad decided. "So you can have a piece of cake, because you've been really brave." He added to our son, who was now smiling as if nothing had happened.

I nodded and slowly got up to try to stay on my feet, as Killian was wrapping his arm around my waist to support me. I purposely avoided my mom's gaze when I walked past her, still feeling too angry to look at her in the eyes.

* * *

The conversation was pretty animated since we all knew Liam was okay. We were sitting at the biggest table in the hospital cafeteria, and a tremendous amount of food was laying in front of us. My father and Henry were joyfully talking while Liam, who was sitting in a baby chair next to Killian, was busy putting his chocolate cake everywhere except in his mouth. He had insisted to do "like a big boy", but the try was obviously not a huge success, not for my son's clothes anyway because they were a mess. But he seemed to be having such a good time I really didn't know if I had to stop him or not.

"Okay, that's it." Killian decided, taking the spoon out of Liam's hand. "You're putting chocolate everywhere."

"But I wanna do it!" My son started to whine with a pout.

I smiled and grabbed my cup of hot cocoa to drink a sip out of it. I was feeling so much better since I had eaten. Killian had been careful I was eating enough to not be hungry for three days, as always when I was skipping a meal. My migraine was gone, and I was feeling deeply relaxed. Now that my mind was clear, I was really starting to realize I should not have said what I had told my mom. I was right to be angry, but she was already feeling guilty enough without me yelling at her. She was looking so sad since the start of the meal, and I knew I really needed to apologize to her. Looking down at her knees, she wasn't telling a thing, which was surprising because she was the one who was usually always talking. I put my mug down on the table, frowning, wondering what I had to do to make things better. Talking to her right now would be a bit difficult and not really discreet, but I couldn't leave her like that. As if she was forcing me to choose, she suddenly got up and hastily said :

"I gotta go, I left the kids with the wizards..."

"Mom, wait!" I called her back, not wanting us to leave each other mad, and she turned to look at me with surprise. "Can we talk in private for a bit?"

She nodded, looking very serious, and I got off my chair, fluffing Liam's hair as I walked past him and noticing he was still putting chocolate everywhere. We got out of the restaurant and I managed to find an empty corridor after a few minutes of research. I then turned back to her and bit my lower lip when I saw how sad and guilty she was looking.

"Look, I'm so sorry mom." I started in a sheepish way." I should never have gotten mad at you. I was just scared, and… I told you things that were unfair. I know you're the best with kids, and I trust you to take care of Liam. It happens to everyone to make mistakes..."

"I'm the one who is sorry, Emma." She said, looking up to me with her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. "Really. If something worse had happened to Liam..."

"He's fine." I cut her off with a little smile. "I overreacted. I don't know what has gotten into me. Well, it must be because of the hormones..." I joked to show her I wasn't mad at her at all anymore.

She shyly smiled at me, and I wrapped my arms around her to make her feel better. I felt her smile widen as she was getting I wasn't blaming her, and she placed her hand on my arms as she was pulling away from me. She stared at me for a few seconds, and I said while raising my eyebrows, a bit puzzled by her look :

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, baby, it's just… Would you like it for us to do something together, just the two of us, one of those days? I feel like it never happens with everything that's going on in this town. I would like to spend time with you, you know. Be like a normal mother for once."

I took a deep breath as I was feeling tears forming in my eyes again. Her offer was truly touching my heart. It was true that between everything that was happening all the time, I was never spending time alone with my mother. I was feeling like she preferred taking care of Neal – which was normal, because he was still a baby – and I was used to it, I had grown up without a mom after all. She was always there to comfort or support me when I needed it, sure, but we had never taken the time to just hang out together for a bit. I was feeling like we didn't know each other that well, and it was saddening me a bit.

I therefore vigorously nodded, wiping off a tear that was streaming down my face and I answered in a muffled voice :

"Of course, mom. I would love that."

"Great." She said, embracing me once again, knowing how touched I was, and I placed my head on her shoulder with a little sight. "I can't wait for us to finally start knowing each other. I love you so much, Emma. And again, I'm sorry for..."

"Stop apologizing, it's okay." I cut her off with a little sniff.

She smiled at me and took my hand in hers. Comforted by our conversation, she walked back at our table with a big smile on her face, and sat down, looking deeply relieved. Killian looked at me in question when he saw that I had cried, and I smiled at him as I was settling next to him to make him understand it was okay. He didn't say anything, but leaned forward to press a gentle kiss on my temple and comfort me a bit.

"I thought you had to go." Henry said to my mom, and we all turned to look at him.

"I mean, yeah, but now that I think about it, Harry, Ron and Hermione can baby-sit the kids for a while longer. After everything we're doing for them..."

The comment made everyone smile, and the conversation started again, my mom finally taking part of it as she usually did.

* * *

 **See you friday for a more eventful chapter! :)**


	20. Chapter 20

**thanks to oncer4life11, Emilee Amethyst and Araya for the reviews!**

* * *

"After you, princess." Killian theatrically stated with a little bow, opening the door of Granny's so I could cross it.

I vaguely smiled and shook my head seeing his clowning. I was feeling sick and down for a few days now, and he was doing everything he could to make me smile a little bit, even if my grins were getting quite unusual lately. I could see he was deeply worried : I was in a bad mood sometimes, especially with the pregnancy, and he was used to it, but he had never seen me so depressed. But I had a good reason to feel that way: my stomach was continuing to round, and was starting to show even through my big sweaters. I was terrified thinking about what Zelena could do to my family if she learned I was pregnant. She was still hiding somewhere in the forest, and I knew that if things kept going on like that for a while longer, I would probably have to lock myself at home waiting for my family to defeat the witch, and I really didn't want that to happen. But we hadn't found any solutions yet, and it was discouraging me a little bit more every day. In addition to that, the heat wave was more powerful than ever in this beginning of July, and it wasn't improving my mood at all. My sicknesses that had calmed down around the third month of my pregnancy were coming back even stronger, and I couldln't do anything about it. I was just so stressed. A few hours before, I had actually spent half an hour emptying my stomach in my bathroom, and it was a miracle I was standing on my feet right now.

I settled in a booth with a little sight, leaning against the wall as if I was trying to disappear, and Killian sat down next to me. With a lot of efforts and a few additional chairs, we managed to all bunch around the table, my parents, Regina, the wizards, Killian and I – Henry and Robin were taking care of the kids at the loft and weren't with us. I was sandwiched between the wall and Hook, and a hot flush made me close my eyes. My stomach got turned upside down once again and I bit my lower lip in pain, but I had nothing left to throw up. It was so hot inside the diner, and I rolled my sleeves up to try and be a little bit cooler. I felt Killian placing his hand on my thigh to comfort me, and I let go of a little discouraged sight.

The discussion started almost immediately. My parents had ordered a meal for everyone, but I didn't touch the cheeseburgers that was laying in front of me. I wasn't hungry at all, and my stomach was aching too much for me to be able to eat something. In addition to that, the smell of cooked meat was worsening my nausea, and I knew that if I had tried to eat anything, I would have vomited right after. Lost in my thoughts, my hands stuck between my legs, I was trying to ignore my sickness and stay calm as the world seemed to fall apart around me.

The baby kicked and I closed my eyes, refraining my instinct to place my hand on my stomach to calm my child down. I didn't know what to do to keep it safe anymore. Actually, and despite all my efforts, it seemed like I was never able to protect those I loved. Killian, Henry, Liam, my parents, the baby, my friends… I was so worried for all of them. Sometimes, I was telling myself that maybe it would have been better for them if I hadn't been there in the town. It was always me who was involving them in my problems. It was always because of me that they were putting themselves in danger. Sure, I was miserable when I wasn't surrounded by these wonderful people, but was that really important if they were safe without me?

I discreetly shook my head to chase away these thoughts. _That's bullshit, girl, and you know it._ It was the dark thoughts talking. They were crashing inside my brain for days, and were driving me crazy. And I was so, so hot, I was feeling like something was burning inside of me.

 _Don't pass out, you idiot, it's the worst thing to do, really._

Black spots were starting to cover my vision. I was going to faint if I wasn't doing something to stop this sickness. My nausea was getting stronger and stronger, and I had the strange and scary feeling that I was out of my body, watching the scene from the outside. And this heat, this horrible heat…

"Emma, are you okay?"

Everyone was staring at me, now. I was probably looking completely regrettable. I opened my mouth to say something, but my brain was like frozen, and a sudden migraine hit me all at once. I placed my hand on my forehead to immediately take it away : I was running a very high fever.

"I… It's… I..." I stuttered, unable to say something consistent.

Killian didn't wait any longer, getting that something bad was happening to me. He leaned forward and gently pressed his hand against my forehead before crying out in shock :

"You're burning up! Swan… Emma, baby, can you hear me?"

I slowly nodded. Every inch of my body was aching, I was burning from the inside, but I was paradoxically shaking. I whimpered in pain, not knowing what to do to get out of this horrible situation. My mind was blurry because of the pain and a little voice in the back of my head was yelling that I was going to die. It wasn't helping me to calm down at all.

"Move." Killian ordered to Regina, who was sitting next to him.

In any other circumstances, she would have yelled at him for talking to her that way, but she knew the situation was very serious. Killian moved so I could have a little more space. I immediately started to breathe a bit better, but the heat was still burning me, and keeping my eyes open was getting really hard. The room was spinning around me, and the world was appearing in a strange red variation of colors.

"It's probably the heat." My mom noticed, looking deeply worried.

"I'm going to take her outside." Killian decided, his hand on my cheek to try to cool me down a bit. "She needs some air. Just breathe, baby." He added in a broken voice. "It's going to be okay."

"It's even hotter outside, you idiot!" Regina said, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "Emma, you need to take your sweater off."

I nodded as vigorously as I could given the state I was in. In my foggy mind, I was only sure of one thing : I needed to protect my baby, I didn't have another choice. I couldn't divulge my pregnancy to everyone, it was a question of life or death. And if I needed to suffer for my child, it was worth it.

"Swan, do you wanna end up to the hospital?!" She shouted, which made my migraine even worse. "It's dangerous for the one you're trying to protect to stay like that, it's more dangerous than divulging your secret, actually. You know it! "

"What the hell does that mean?" Ron intervened, looking utterly confused by what was happening. "What's going on?"

I couldn't do that, I didn't want to, I had to protect my baby, I didn't have a choice. It was my fault if Zelena was a danger for all of us, because I had sped up her pregnancy in the first place. So now I had to face the consequences of my actions. My family couldn't suffer because of what I had done years ago, I couldn't accept it.

"Emma, Regina is right." Killian said really gently, although his voice was still a bit broken because he was so worried about me. "You know it's the only solution. You can't go to the hospital, sweetheart, it's dangerous..."

Hook's words made their way through the chaos that was reigning in my brain, and I realized he was right. I had to listen to him. Staying like that was hurting the baby, and I just wanted to protect it. I couldn't go back in time and change my action, so I had to do something. I thus slowly nodded and started taking off my sweater as Killian was getting up, saying :

"I'm going to get you something cold."

Once I found myself in my tank top, I already felt so much better. I grabbed my hair and tied them up in my hand to cool my neck down. I turned my head to look at the wizards. They were all staring at me with their eyes widened, looking deeply surprised. They were on the side of the table, and given the tight red top I was wearing, they couldn't have a doubt about the fact I was pregnant. They all kept silence as I was trying to breathe slower, because they were all way too shocked to say anything. At least I wasn't about to pass out anymore, it was a good thing.

Killian came back and handed me a bottle of cold water before sitting back down next to me. I drank three big sips out of it, and the liquid hurt my teeth, but it instantly cooled me down. I closed the recipient before gluing the frozen plastic to my neck, letting go of a sight of relief.

"Are you feeling better?" Killian asked, looking concerned and stroking my skin through my jeans with his thumb, as if he was trying to comfort me. "You don't want to go to the hospital? You think everything's all right?"

I nodded to reassure him. My reaction seemed to act as a trigger on the wizards, and they got out of their silence. It was Harry who started talking first, stuttering :

"You… You're pregnant?"

I weakly nodded, starting to realize as my mind was clearing up that my baby wasn't safe anymore. I was feeling like crying : once again, I had failed protecting someone I loved. It wasn't even born yet, and it was already in danger. Because of me. I was hating myself so much for all of this. It was all my fault, and I suddenly wanted to bang my head against a wall to punish myself.

"How many weeks?" Ron asked, staring at my stomach with his lips parted.

"Twenty." Killian answered, guessing that I wasn't able to tell them everything myself because I was feeling too bad.

"What?!" The redhead shouted in disbelief. "But why haven't you told us anything before?"

Killian glanced at me to see how I was coping with this sudden twist. I could see that my parents and Regina were looking at me in worry as well. I put the bottle back on the table and took my head in my hands, trying hard not to start crying or yelling, or anything that could help me get this distress out of my chest. I didn't want to tell them everything. I was feeling way too bad for that.

So Killian took charge of the situation. Patiently, he started to explain to our friends why we had decided not to tell them anything – first to avoid being rude and because we had thought we would manage to send them home way sooner, then because of Zelena. He told them about my days as a Dark One, what I had done to the witch, and why she would probably want a revenge when she would learn I was pregnant. When he finished, I looked up and angrily wiped off a tear that was streaming down my face. The wizards were looking at us, frowning, processing this huge amount of information Killian had just given them. Hook glanced at me and wrapped his arm around me, pulling me close to him to press a kiss on my temple. He knew how bad I was feeling and that I didn't know what to do to calm myself down. I closed my eyes and grabbed his hand to press his fingers between mine, trying to give myself some strength to carry one as I was feeling like everything was falling apart.

"Wait a minute." Hermione started, and I opened my eyes, my head placed on Killian's shoulder.

"What?" My dad asked

"When we arrived here, you were already pregnant, right?"

I slowly nodded, still unable to say anything because of the huge lump stuck in my throat. I knew that if I tried to talk, I would start sobbing and it wouldn't help the pain that was crushing my stomach right now. I was so worried my guts were contracting in a horrible way, and I didn't want to worsen things. All of that was surely dangerous for the baby, and I just didn't want to hurt it.

"But it means that… When you were at the hospital, it was because..."

"She used too much energy to produce her magic as she was sick." Hook said, and I felt his body stiffened against me, what made me think that this memory was making him a bit mad even if I knew he had forgiven our friends a long time ago. "We thought she'd had a miscarriage"

"Oh my god." Hermione cried out, taking her face in her hands. "Oh my god..."

"Is that why you were so angry?" Harry asked, his eyes widened as Hook was slowly nodding.

"We are so, so sorry." Hermione said in a low voice, looking like she was about to cry. "If we had known you were pregnant… We should never have forced you to do that, we put you and the baby in danger..."

"It's in the past." Killian said, and I admired him for his strength because I knew deep down he would have wanted to yell at them. "It was a long time ago. You didn't know. And we have biggest problems right now. I think we need to tell everyone, love." He whispered to my ear. "We don't have a choice anymore."

The other clients who were eating in the diner had no idea what was happening at our table. They hadn't looked over our booth, despite the noise we were making. Drama was pretty common in Storybrooke, and that was not a little sickness that was going to alert them.

I nodded, I knew it was the right thing to do because hiding my pregnancy had become impossible now, but at the same time, I was terrified. Killian pressed a kiss on my forehead before getting up, and he started talking in a loud voice so everyone could hear him in the room :

"Listen, everyone, we have something to tell you." He started, before getting quiet for a few seconds, waiting for everyone to shut up and listen to him. "Look, we have hidden something from you for quite a while, now, and it's time for us to tell you everything. Emma is pregnant."

The clients didn't react at first, and it surprised me. I had expected a bit of reaction from them, I had thought they would ask question, congratulate us or ask us why we hadn't told anything earlier, but they were all staring at Killian in silence as if he had gone crazy and I had no idea what was going on.

"Yeah, right." Leroy finally snorted after a couple of seconds. "You haven't found anything else to trick us?"

"What? But it's true!" Killian defended himself, looking deeply surprised by the dwarf's words.

"If she'd been pregnant, you would have thrown a party, you would have jumped on the counter to tell everyone, and you wouldn't have looked so…"

He didn't finish his sentence. Killian had reached for my hand, and I had gotten up, divulging my baby bump to everyone. The entire diner was now staring at me, and I looked down at my feet, pressing Killian's fingers between mine. I really wasn't feeling good enough to face their looks right now.

"We didn't want to tell anything before because of Zelena." Killian explained, gently stroking my hand with his thumb. "But given the heatwave, Emma can't keep on wearing big sweaters. It's dangerous for her and the baby. Could you tell what's happening to everyone for us, please?"

"Sure!" Leroy answered, grabbing his cellphone and telling his brothers to do the same.

Killian turned back to look at me. I still hadn't said anything since I had taken my sweater off, and he cupped my cheek, looking deeply worried for me. My silence was really concerning for him. I was about to start crying, and was feeling like I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. My baby was in danger, because of me. It was always because of me.

Without saying anything, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer to him. I buried my face into the crook of his neck, feeling hot tears starting to stream down my face without even trying to hold them back.

* * *

Sitting on the rocking-chair in Liam's room, my legs bent underneath me, I was slowly swinging back and forth, one of my son's fluffed animals in my arms. The room was dark, only enlightened by the little pilot light, and the silence was only broken by my baby boy's breathing. He was peacefully sleeping in his crib, not knowing what was going on in our life. I didn't know what I was doing there, expect making sure Zelena wasn't attacking my son. Since we had announced my pregnancy the day prior, I didn't know what to do with myself. I had lost my appetite, I couldn't sleep anymore, and was feeling really down. I just wanted to stay home, buried under ten blankets despite the heat and never get out of there. I had been sick for hours when we had come back from the diner after telling everyone what was going on. It had been so violent Killian had actually wanted to take me to the hospital, but it had finally calmed down in the middle of the night, leaving me completely exhausted on the bathroom's floor. I had forced myself to get out of the house and go to my parents' during the day, but I hadn't been helpful at all. I was only speaking when I absolutely needed too, and my dark thoughts were stronger than ever. I was so afraid Zelena would learn about my pregnancy, and would come to attack me. In my opinion, she would learn everything quite quickly because the entire town was now aware we were expecting, and it was horrifying.

I heard steps ringing into the stairs, but didn't do anything to report my presence. Killian walked in the hall for a little while before crossing Liam's door. He seemed surprised when he saw me sitting here, and whispered in order not to awake our son :

"I thought you were off to bed."

"I couldn't sleep." I shrugged in a low voice.

He reached for my hand, and I put the fluffed animal back on the rocking chair to follow him into the hallway. We stayed silent as we were heading for our room, and I sat down on our bed, looking down at the bedsheets.

"Do you want to eat something?" He offered in a voice muffled by his worry.

I shook my head to refuse. My stomach was so painful I didn't think I would be able to eat something. In addition to that, I had thrown up everything I had tried to eat since we had announced my pregnancy, and I wasn't ready to reiterate that experience. I was still staring at the sheets, and Killian sat down beside me, placing his hand on my leg.

"Are you sure? You haven't eaten anything for hours."

"I'm not hungry." I mumbled, nervously playing with my fingers.

"Emma..."

I looked up to him, surprised by his tone. I had detected a bit of blame in his shaky voice when he had called my name. He looked at me for a few seconds before starting to talk again :

"You can't go on like this. You can't let yourself die. It's dangerous for the baby, as dangerous as the witch's potential attacks. It's dangerous for you..." He added in a pleading tone.

"I'm fine." I said, not even managing to convince myself.

"Fine?" He repeated in a muffled voice as if he was trying hard not to get mad. "You're everything but fine, Swan!"

I stared at him in surprise. He was as worried as I was, I knew it. But I hadn't expected him to start yelling. But now that I was thinking about it, it was probably his way of getting his fear out. It was pretty logical, actually.

"If you go on like that, something bad will happen! Bloody hell, why are you acting like this? It's not like you!"

I knew he was right. In any other circumstances, I would have taken control over the situation. I would have gone out of the house, I would have looked everywhere to find Zelena and punch her in the face. But this time was different. I didn't know why, but I just wanted to sleep and never wake up.

"Do something, Fuck, Emma!"

He had yelled and had grabbed my arm, looking deeply angry. I stared at his hand, my eyes widened, and freed myself from his grip. It was the most energetic things I had done all day. I was actually starting to feel something else than distress. I was mad. Really mad. He should have understood. He was handling his fear by screaming, I just needed time to learn how to live with mine. He was always getting me, usually. He should have known why I was acting like that. Why was he reacting that way?

I opened my mouth to reply something and show him I wasn't accepting his behavior, but didn't have the time to do anything. Without notice, his expression had completely changed, and he had wrapped his arms around me, his face buried in my neck. I stayed completely still, not understanding this reaction and this sign of affection while he had yelled at me one second before.

But suddenly, I felt his breathing getting faster. A warm liquid touched the skin of my neck. A tear. He was crying?

I didn't wait any longer and embraced him tightly, holding him very close to me. I wasn't mad at all anymore, I just wanted to comfort him. He pulled himself together quite quickly, but he kept his arms around me. I had almost never seen him so sad, and I said in a gentle voice, stroking his back to reassure him :

"Hey, babe, calm down. It's okay. What's going on?"

"I'm so sorry." He simply answered before kissing my neck. "Forgive me."

"It's fine. Really." I said, pulling away from him to look straight into his eyes, deeply sad because of his tears. "Just tell me what's wrong. Please..." I added, seeing that he didn't want to talk about his feelings.

"It's just..." He wavered before looking deep into my eyes. "I'm scared, Emma."

"I know, I'm afraid of something happening to the baby too." I answered, grabbing his fingers to comfort him. "This is why I'm acting like that. But It's gonna be okay..."

Playing the part of the one who had to comfort the other was actually improving my mood a lot. I was feeling a lot more confident, and I placed my free hand on my stomach. We were going to protect the little one, no matter what. We would make it. We were always managing to find a solution.

"No, you don't get it." He said, shaking his head. "I'm not only scared for the baby. I'm also scared of something happening to you."

I stayed speechless hearing this revelation. I hadn't imagined the situation like that. I had to bear my guilt in addition to my fear of losing my baby. Him, he was afraid, because I was in danger and something could happen to me. We were even. I was getting better all those little gestures he was having for me since we had announced my pregnancy, and that I had thought were to comfort me. It was like he always wanted to stay close to me. His hand on the small of my back, his fingers woven together with mine, the little kisses he was pressing on my face… It was because he was scared I was in danger.

"I'm so scared I'm going to lose you..."

I cupped his cheek, gently stroking his skin with my thumb. I loved him so much. We were so close that none of us had to wear an armor with the other. We could be vulnerable, tell the truth about our feelings, because we knew the other would understand, always. Despite the situation, I suddenly found that so beautiful.

"Nothing is going to happen to me." I assured, all my confidence back. "We're going to protect the baby. And I don't intend to leave you alone. I'm not letting you down. You're stuck with me for a long time, captain. I promise." I added before leaning forward to press a gentle kiss on his lips.

He embraced me once again and buried his face into the crook of my neck, breathing me. I kissed his collar bone, running my hand through his hair, and suddenly felt the need to tell him I loved him. I opened my mouth, but he started talking before me :

"I love you so much. I don't want something to happen to you."

"We've been apart way too many times. I'll be okay, our family will survive this. I love you, and I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying with you. I promise."

He didn't answer anything and pulled me a little bit closer to his chest as if he was scared I would disappear.

* * *

 **Here we go, so now everyone is aware of Emma's pregnancy! The next chapter is really fluffy, but the four chapters following are a lot darker. I hope you liked this chapter, and thanks for all the support. You guys are awesome!**


	21. Chapter 21

**thanks to oncer4life11, Emilee Amethyst and Araya for the reviews! **

* * *

"Faster, daddy, faster!" Liam shouted, overexcited as he was sitting on Killian's shoulder

"Babe, be careful he doesn't fall over, okay?" I winced, a bit worried seeing him obeying to our son.

"He couldn't be in better hands, Swan!" He cried out with a great confidence.

I smiled, telling myself he would definitely never get sick of making jokes about his missing hand, and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. The wind was blowing in hot gusts, cooling the air down a bit and making my clothes stick to my skin. It was actually good, because the heatwave was still going on, and the heat was sometimes killing me even if I luckily didn't have to wear sweaters anymore. The nights were particularly difficult, and I was pretty tired, but I wasn't complaining too much because I knew things could have been much worse. I had took off my shoes and was walking in the sand near the sea as the waves were regularly crashing against my bare feet. One hand raised to protect my eyes from the sun, I noticed that Henry, who was walking a few feet ahead of me, was struggling to keep the two huge bags we had taken from Granny's in his arms.

"Hey, kid, you need some help?" I offered, screaming so he could hear me above the noises of the waves.

"I'm in total control of the situation!" He answered, repositioning a bag in his arms and that made me laugh.

With Zelena's threat hanging above our heads each hours of the day, Killian and I had decided to enjoy our family's company the more we could. Spending time together and forgetting about our problems. Simply living a normal life. The thought of these moments spent with the people I loved the most in this world was helping me moving forward, day after day. It was helping me fight against my fear of losing one of them. This time, we had decided to sail the Jolly Rodger all together. Liam always loved being on the sea, and Killian wanted to teach Henry how to navigate. We had thought an afternoon under the July's sun was going to please everyone, and I was actually pretty excited about this day.

I was walking purposely slowly to enjoy the water's cold on my feet, my eyes staring at the skyline. The town knew about my pregnancy for two weeks now, but Zelena hadn't tried anything yet. Perhaps she didn't know about the new baby yet, but I was so scared of what she could do to us when she would learn about it, because it was going to happen eventually. I shook my head and took a few deep breaths, thinking about what Killian was saying to me every time I was having one of my panic attack : " _Breathe slowly, beautiful. Do as I do. Everything is gonna be okay, I promise. Just breathe, you're doing great. I'm here with you, you don't have to be afraid. I love you."_ His voice and the feeling of his hand against my skin was comforting me so much every time. He was right, I had to stay calm. Worrying now that I didn't even know what was going to happen wasn't useful, and my anxiety attacks were bad for the baby.

I finally joined the docks were the Jolly Rodger was tied up, and didn't even put my shoes back on before walking into the ship. Henry had put the bags in a corner of the boat deck, and was joyfully talking with Killian, standing behind the wheel. They were looking very focused, and I didn't want to disturb them by telling them I was there. I then smiled at Liam, who was listening to Killian with his lips parted, and he ran toward me with a giggle. I squatted to take him into my arms and lifted him up, pressing a kiss on his forehead, happy to see him so excited about this afternoon.

"So, are you happy to go on a boat trip?" I asked in a gentle voice.

"Yeah!" He enthusiastically shouted. "I wanna be a pirate!"

"A pirate?" I repeated and I raised my eyebrows at him with a big smile on my face. "You'll have to wait for my permission for that, young man." I teased him, tickling him as he was giggling once again.

"But I wanna be like daddy!"

"But you're already like daddy!" I said, sitting down on the steps of the ship and taking him on my lap. "You have his hair, his smile..." I continued, pointing the different part of his face as he was still laughing. "You're already as handsome as he is, I'm telling you!"

"You're very pretty, mommy." He said with a huge smile on his face.

Touched by this sudden statement, I held him close to me for a hug that lasted for a few minutes. He was still cuddled into my arms when the baby kicked, and Liam gasped, smiling in happiness. He freed himself from my embrace to lean forward and put both his hands on my stomach. He loved feeling his little sibling kicking, he could stay against me for hours sometimes, and he glued his ear to my belly-button as if he was trying to understand something that the baby was saying.

"Mommy?" He asked when the baby calmed down.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"When can I see Peanut?" He said, his eyes sparkling in excitement.

"You'll have to wait a little bit longer for that, you know." I answered, running my hand through his hair.

"How many sleeps?"

"A lot." I said with a smile, touched by how adorable he was.

"It's long! I wanna see it!" He sighted with a little pout.

"Aw, I know, sweetheart, but it needs to grow before you can see it. It needs to be strong and healthy, you know?"

He nodded, still looking a bit disappointed, and wrapped his arms around my neck to snuggle against my chest once again. I stroked his back, enjoying this moment alone with my baby boy.

"I love you, Liam." I gently said, placing a kiss on the top of his head.

"I love you too, mommy." He replied with a smile.

It wasn't the first time he was saying this to me, and I was suspecting him to only do so to imitate the grown-ups without really understanding what it meant, but the statement was still really moving. I pulled a little bit away from him to playfully fluff his hair, and turned my head to see Killian walking toward us. I looked up to meet his gaze, a smile on my face to greet him.

"Are you ready, sailors?" He asked to our son with a wink.

"Yeah!" Liam shouted in excitement.

"It's a big day today, I'm going to teach your brother how to sail." Hook continued, squatting in front of us.

"I wanna learn too!" Liam said with a big smile.

"Later, when you'll be a little bit older, okay? For now, I need you to take care of your mommy for me, I'm trusting you." He said and that made me giggle as our son was seriously nodding to show his father he was getting the _mission_. "You okay? Ready for the big departure?" He added, turning back to look at me.

"Killian, we're going away for a few hours, not for a month." I kindly scoffed.

"Hey, that's important, okay?" He defended himself, looking falsely outraged by my words. "Henry is going to learn how to navigate. It's a big moment for him. So no mockery today, princess, I'm watching you."

"You know me." I giggled at his comment.

"Seriously, though, you sure you're all right? You don't need anything?" He asked, regaining seriousness.

"I can take care of myself, Killian, thank you." I answered with half a smile, before adding when I saw his falsely annoyed look. "I'm okay, I don't need anything."

He smiled at me and placed a finger under my chin to lift it up and press a quick kiss on my lips. Then he got up and joined Henry, who was waiting for him behind the wheel. I looked at him walking away with a little smile, still holding Liam close to me, happy to finally be able to spend a peaceful moment with my little family.

* * *

Sitting at the ship bow, I was feeling the wind of the ocean making my hair fly in my back and let out of a little sight of pleasure. My legs were dangling above the sea, and I was leaning against the rail, staring at the horizon. The ocean was stretching as far as eyes could see. The waves were crashing against the ship hull and the foam was tickling my bare feet. I was hearing Liam's laughter behind me : Killian had ended up surrendering and had included him in the lesson he was giving to Henry. My son seemed to be a natural at sailing, and Hook was only watching him to make sure everything was all right. I had watched them for a little while, happy to see them all so close, and had ended up isolating myself up here.

To be honest, I was feeling like I was bothering them a little bit, and I didn't want to be a burden for them. I actually didn't mind being alone there : I was just happy to see my sons and Killian spending time together. It was mostly in order not to disturb them that I had come to sit on the edge of the ship, and I hadn't expected to love this place so much. The ocean was everywhere and its deep blue color was appeasing me. I crossed my arms on the rail and placed my chin on them with a little smile. I was feeling calmer than I had been for weeks.

The baby gave a little kick, as if finally feeling me relaxed was making it happy as well. I took a deep breath, the smell of the ocean making me shiver, and listened to the conversation Killian and Henry were having, even if I wasn't really able to understand what they were saying because of the noisy wind gusts. They didn't seem to have noticed I was gone, completely lost in their little world.

I stayed for a long while in that position, rocked by the movement of the waves, and I ended up hearing steps coming behind my back. I looked up to see Killian approaching me, and he sat down next to me, letting his legs hang above the sea as well.

"Are you okay?" He asked, looking a bit worried even if I didn't understand why he was staring at me that way.

"Why aren't you with Henry anymore?" I asked after having nodded with a smile.

"He's doing great, he can manage for a few minutes. I was just wondering why you were here instead of being with us."

"I'm enjoying the view" I answered with a little shrug.

"Don't stay alone like that." He said, wrapping his arm around my waist to pull me closer to him, and I placed my head on his shoulder with a smile. "Come and join us, it's not that bad, you'll see."

"You manage great without me." I said as a joke with a little giggle.

He didn't answer anything, but I felt him stiffening beside me. A bit puzzled by this change, I turned my head to realize he was looking at me in worry, nervously biting his lower lip. I understood my words could have worried him, and I tried to comfort him with a smile :

"Don't look at me like that, it wasn't a criticism. I'm happy you're spending time with the boys. Come on, go back there. I'm not completely trusting Henry about sailing yet, and I'd like you to make sure he doesn't kill us all."

"Seriously, Swan, come with us." He said after laughing at my joke. "We miss you. Beside, we're going to eat soon."

"I wouldn't miss that." I gently teased him. "Give me a minute, I'll be right there."

He nodded, pressed a quick kiss on my cheek and got up to walk away from me.

* * *

I had ended up going down from my perch to join my family, and we were all sitting around a meal laying on the ship deck. We could have gone inside and eat in the Captain cabin, but we had decided it was too sunny to leave the deck. Sitting not far from the wheel, we were all eating with appetite the meal we had taken from Granny's. I was listening to Henry an Killian talking, a small smile on my face, even if I wasn't saying a thing. I was feeling deeply happy to see Hook and my son getting along so well. Henry's father was not around after all, and I was happy to see he could count on wonderful men in his life : Killian, Robin, my father… I was so glad to see he was feeling good about himself, and seemed genuinely happy. As for Liam, he was overexcited about _learning how to sail_ and it had been pretty hard to make him sit down so he would eat his meal.

As I was absent-mindlessly hearing Henry saying that he was definitely loving the sea, I saw Killian casually reach for my plate and take several onions rings from it. Falsely outraged, I slapped his fingers, and he turned toward me to stare at me in surprise.

"What?" He asked, shaking his head without understanding what was going on.

"You should be ashamed of yourself." I said, raising an eyebrow at him. "You have food in your own plate, you know."

"Oh sure, that's right." He replied with a smirk. "I forgot you always get mad when someone touches your food."

"Yeah, play smart with me, but you're not only depriving me of my own food, but also the baby." I defiantly said, placing a hand on my baby bump.

"Oh my god, you're right!" He said, theatrically placing his hand on his forehead. "Being deprived of two onion rings is going to be so dangerous for you and the baby. I'm so sorry, Peanut." he added, looking at my stomach before leaning forward to kiss it through my tank top.

I rolled my eyes, falsely mad at him as Henry was laughing beside us. I knew all too well Killian was teasing me to make me smile, because he was the first one to always make sure I had eaten enough, and he was quite happy my appetite was back after days of fasting because I was sick every time I was trying to eat something. I was actually trying hard not to start giggling, because I had more than enough food in my plate. However, Liam was staring at us, his eyes widened, as if he didn't understand we were pretending to be mad at each other. I looked at him with a smile to comfort him and gently explained:

"Don't worry, baby, Daddy and I are just playing. We're not fighting for real."

"Your Mommy's right, little mate." Killian added, wrapping his arm around my shoulders to pull me close to him. "Look, I'm giving her her food back, see?"

He handed me the onion rings, and I ate them as Liam was starting to smile again. Touched by how adorable he was looking, I giggled, turning back to look at Killian, who was quite amused by the situation as well. I pressed a quick kiss on his lips, and he smiled at me. He leaned forward to kiss my forehead, and resumed his conversation with Henry, keeping his arm around me to hold me close to his chest.

* * *

Leaning against the rail, my back turned to the ocean, I was watching Killian and Henry standing in the middle of the ship desk, as I was laughing a lot about the situation. In return of the lesson Killian had just offered him, Henry had decided to teach him something from the modern world : How to play Baseball. He had forced Killian to wear a baseball glove and Hook was looking down at it in the most suspicious way possible as if it was going to jump at his throat. Henry was trying to stop laughing as he was throwing the ball, but Killian was almost always missing it. Liam seemed to have a lot of fun, and was enthusiastically clapping, sitting not far from them to enjoy the show.

I watched them play for a little while before getting lost in my thoughts without even realizing it. I couldn't believe we had actually managed to spend a quiet afternoon, just the four of us. I loved to see how Henry and Killian had bound with each other through the years, and how they were now behaving like a father and a son without even paying attention to it. I had never imagined I could be a part of such a perfect and wonderful family. Two kids, a third on its way, a fiance who was always supporting me no matter what… Despite all of our problems, the two years that had passed since Liam's birth had been the happiest of my life. I was sincerely hoping this happiness that was still a stranger for me only a few years ago was going to last for a long, long time.

"Swan, careful!"

The scream suddenly drove me away from my thoughts, and I looked up to see a white ball coming really quickly in my direction. Without even thinking about what I was doing, I reached for it and arched my back to catch it as it was flying above the rail to get lost in the blue immensity behind me. When I looked back at my family, tightly holding the ball in my palm, I noticed they were all staring at me as if I had suddenly changed into a ghost.

"What?" I asked, puzzled by their weird silence.

"Wow, Mom, that was _awesome_." Henry said, staring at me with his eyes widened.

"You've hidden this capacity from us, Swan." Killian added, shaking his head in surprise.

"That's right, I didn't even know you could play!" Henry resumed, looking very impressed.

"And what tells you I haven't benefited from the beginner's luck?" I laughed, skillfully throwing the ball from one hand to another. "Okay." I added, seeing they were still looking at me with their eyebrows raised. "I've played a little bit, back when I was in High School. I couldn't take real lessons because I was in the foster system and I was changing school pretty often because I was running away a lot, but a few of my teachers had noticed I was pretty good at sports, especially in Baseball."

"Why haven't you told us anything before?" Henry asked, looking amazed by these revelations.

"Honestly? I haven't played since I left school, and it's not like we're playing this sport every day in Storybrooke. This town is more specialized in monsters hunt than Home-run."

The looked at each other with an expression I wasn't able to decrypt, and Henry ended up turning to face me with a playful smile that made me giggle :

"Well, in that case, I'm offering you my post to teach the basis of this noble sport to your almost husband, master." He said with a little bow.

I burst out laughing seeing his clowning, and obeyed as he was walking away to leave me his position, still looking at me in a serious way. I raised my eyebrows as I faced Killian, who didn't seem that happy by this change of partner. He was staring at me, looking a bit afraid, and I bit the inside of my cheek to try and stop my laughter :

"Ready?" I asked with half a smile.

He answered me with a little wince, and without waiting any longer, I placed myself to throw the ball in his direction. I had been careful to aim very well so it was almost impossible for him to miss it, and he grabbed it before immediately letting it fall down on the ship desk. It rolled toward Liam, who was watching us with curiosity, his head tilted on its side. Killian shook his hand, looking at me as if I had just betrayed him grandly, and I couldn't help but smile at his outraged expression.

"Bloody hell, Swan! I only have one hand left, I would like to actually keep this one."

"Sorry." I laughed, amused by his reaction and his still offended look.

"You don't seem sorry at all." He relevantly stated, shaking his head as he was still staring at me.

"Okay mom, it's decided. Next time we play baseball I want you in my team." Henry said, looking very impressed by my performance.

"I wanna play too!" Liam shouted, running toward us with the ball in his hand.

"I'm leaving you my place with great pleasure, little mate." Killian replied, taking off the baseball glove. "I really don't want to do that again."

"Aw." I said, approaching him as I was still laughing because his reaction was way too funny. "You know it was only to tease you. I promise you I'll be nicer."

He shrugged, looking a bit upset, and I raised my eyebrows at him, placing my finger underneath his chin so he was looking at me in the eyes. I wasn't impressed at all by his look, because I was pretty sure he was joking by pretending he was mad.

"So the pirate is hurt in his ego? Don't look at me like that." I added, seeing he wasn't answering me. "I leave my teacher position to Henry. I was feeling better as a spectator."

He instantly started to smile again, what confirmed me he was just messing around by pretending to be upset, and he wrapped his arms around my waist to pull me closer to him and press a passionate kiss on my lips. He pulled away from me with a big smile on his face after a few more seconds, kissed me on last time on the tip of my nose, what made me giggle, and turned to look at Liam. He asked him to throw the ball in his direction, but our son's motor skills weren't completely developed yet and he didn't know how to aim, so the ball landed far away from Killian.

"I think someone else needs your lessons, Henry." Killian stated, kneeling on the floor to wrap his arms around Liam and help him catch the ball his brother was throwing at him.

Feeling deeply happy, I walked back to lean against the rail, still giggling as I was watching my prefect little family.

* * *

The sun was slowly setting, and the sky was dyed in a beautiful variation of red and orange. We were walking toward our house, all exhausted by the boat trip, but so happy to have spent a quiet moment all together. I was walking without really watching where I was going, lost in my thoughts. I was feeling like the iodized smell of the ocean had managed to make me feel so much better. I was feeling good, and ready to start over and stop worrying : Zelena wouldn't get to us, she wouldn't win. She was not going to hurt us, and I was going to protect my family, no matter what.

I felt Hook's thumb starting to gently stroke my hand. Henry and Liam were a few feet ahead of us, and we were slowly walking in silence. We didn't really need words to understand each other anymore, and we were both really tired. I was just enjoying his presence by my side and the touch of his fingers intertwined with mine.

"You okay?" He suddenly asked me.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I replied, a bit puzzled by his question.

He answered with a little shrug, but I could see he was carefully looking at me to make sure everything was all right. I knew he was worried about me, and he was probably thinking my silence was hiding my anxiety, but I was feeling genuinely good for once. I smiled at him to reassure him and pointed at Henry and Liam to change the subject :

"They seem to be having fun."

"They've always gotten along with each other." He replied, smiling back at me. "I hope they are going to be close with the little one as well."

"I don't see why not." I said, squeezing his fingers between mine. "Especially if it's a boy. They are going to form a real squad with Neal."

"If it's the case, we better brace ourselves." He stated, and that made me giggle.

"But if it's a girl, she's going to feel a bit alone among all these boys."

"There is Robyn." He countered with a big smile on his face. "And she's going to be so loved and spoiled by her two big brothers, you'll see, she'll have everything to be happy."

"You really want your little princess, don't you?" I asked with a chuckle.

"I would be as happy if it's a boy, you know it. But you're right, I would like a little girl. You'll be the two princesses of my life."

I giggled once again, touched by his words, and stopped to put myself on my tiptoe and kiss his lips. He looked at me with a smile as I pulled away from him, raised an eyebrow and playfully said :

"But if she looks like you, she's going to be really beautiful, and I'm not sure I agree with all the boys who are going to be around her."

I shook my head and poked his shoulder, amused but also touched by his comment. I started walking again, laughing and dragging him behind me. We finally caught up on Henry and Liam after a few seconds, as they were waiting for us in our yard. I was about to follow them inside the house when Killian gently held me back, his fingers woven together with mine. I turned to look at him, a bit perplexed. He was suddenly looking worried, and I wasn't getting why. I wanted to ask him what was going on, but he didn't give me the time to do so, and told to Henry :

"Lad, can you watch Liam for us for a sec? I would like to talk to Emma alone..."

"Sure!" My son cheerfully answered. "Be good while we're gone!"

He closed the door behind him and I turned back to look at Killian, raising an eyebrow at him to quietly question him. He didn't say anything and drove me toward the back of the garden. I sat down on the swing we had installed there for Liam several months ago, as he was staying up in front of me. I frowned as I was seeing him scratching behind his ear, and asked :

"What's wrong, babe?"

"I just wanted to make sure of something..."

"I'm listening." I encouraged him, worried by his sheepish look.

"When you said that the baby would feel alone if it was a girl, I realized that I hadn't been really nice with you today..." He said, looking very embarrassed.

"What?!" I shouted, utterly confused by his comment. "Are you kidding me? This day was just perfect!"

"No, I'm serious." He answered, looking a bit destabilized by my reaction. "We left you a bit out today. First when I was teaching Henry how to sail, then when we played baseball… I didn't realize it then, but we haven't really included you, and I'm so sorry about that..."

"Killian." I started, getting up and feeling so surprised by his words. "It's okay, I'm not upset. I'm the one who held back on purpose. I didn't want to bother you, I wanted to give you space because, you know, I thought you would like to stay with the boys for once."

"Swan, you will never bother us in any way." He said, looking deep into my eyes as I was smiling, touched by his words. "I just don't like you to be left alone while you could be with us. You've already been all by yourself way too much in your life, and now that you have a family, I just want you to know you're surrounded and there are people who love you..."

"Killian, I have enough experience in this field to tell you being alone isn't hearing your kids' laughter, it isn't having someone who is always there for you to support you when you need it, and it isn't being pregnant with the kid of the man you love. So don't worry, and don't feel guilty, okay? You really don't have to blame yourself. I'm really, deeply happy."

He nodded and leaned forward to press his forehead against mine. He placed a quick peck on my lips and that made me smile. He ran his hand through my hair as I was gently stroking his back, and he looked at me like I was the most precious thing in the entire world.

"You have no idea how much I love you, Emma Swan." He whispered against my lips.

"I think I know." I answered, smiling before pulling him closer to me to kiss him passionately.

* * *

 **Here we go! The darkness begins in the next chapter, I hope you liked all the fluff in this one, and see you friday! :)**


	22. Chapter 22

**Thanks a lot to oncer4life11, Emilee Amethyst and Araya for the reviews!**

* * *

"I know I've already told you, but this is very strange." Killian started, driving me away from my thoughts.

We were settled on a bench in Central Park, and I was watching with half a smile my sons watering each other with water gun. It was so hot outside, the heatwave was still there, stronger than ever, and Henry had found this pretty good way to cool down and entertain his little brother. I was looking at them running after each other, completely drenched by their battle, and was finding this situation very funny. They were both looking so adorable. I was sitting cross-legged on the bench, and even if the heat was bugging me a little bit, I was very happy to be there with my family. A peaceful afternoon was always good to take in this town where something bad was always happening.

I turned to look at Killian, not really understanding what he was trying to say. He was staring at me with a frown, and was looking quite worried, thing I was a bit surprised to notice. Two minutes ago, he was in a very good mood and we had spent a long time kissing and teasing each other like two teenagers knowing their first love. Wanting to know what had triggered this sudden change, I asked in a soft voice :

"What do you mean?"

"It's weird, it's really not obvious you're 24 weeks pregnant. Seriously, you were showing a lot more for Liam. You only look like you're a few months into your pregnancy."

I placed my hand on my stomach and gently stroked it with my thumb. Killian was right, I had myself wondered several times how it was possible I was still so skinny. I had started to show quite early, but since then, my stomach hadn't grown that much, and it was a bit surprising. As Killian had said, someone who didn't know I was six months pregnant could never have guessed I was that far into the pregnancy.

"Do you think there is a problem?" He resumed, looking a bit worried.

"Aw, babe, if it makes you feel better, we'll ask Whale, but I'm pretty sure everything is okay." I answered with a smile to comfort him. "Things are a lot different from a pregnancy to another, and believe me, it's moving well, so well it keeps me up at night if you remember well." I added with a smile, referring to the fact I couldn't sleep well lately because the baby was definitely training to be a soccer player. "Try not to worry too much, okay?"

He nodded and gently smiled at me, but I could see he was still a bit concerned. Wanting to comfort him, I took his hand and placed it on my stomach, before saying to the baby :

"Hey, Peanut, Daddy is a bit worried because you're not very big yet. Can you show him you're all right for me?"

Reacting to my voice, the baby started to move, and I saw Killian's eyes lightening, as always when he was feeling his child kicking. I smiled, touched by how adorable he looked, and gently ran my hand through his hair. He leaned forward to press a tender kiss on my stomach through my tank top, still smiling in happiness :

"Thanks, little love." He whispered in a very soft voice.

The baby moved again, and I let go of a chuckle. It was always kicking when Killian was talking to it, as if it was trying to answer to its father. Keeping his right hand on my stomach, Killian wrapped his left arm around my shoulder to pull me closer to him and kiss my hair. I cuddled into his arms despite the heat, loving the fact he was beside me, and turned my head to change the subject when a cold water jet hit my breast, making me gasp in surprise. I jumped off the bench and looked down at my drenched tank top, my lips parted in disbelief, before looking up to see Henry standing in front of me. His water gun in his hand, he was staring at us with a huge smile, looking pretty proud of himself.

"What the hell, kid?!" I cried out, turning to look at Killian and realizing he hadn't been spared either and was staring at Henry like he had just betrayed him grandly.

"You were looking like the heat was bothering you." My son answered, smiling at us in his best innocent way.

"Bloody hell..." Killian whispered, looking absolutely outraged. "Are you serious right now?"

"For my defense, it's Liam who's asked me to do it." He said, pointing to his brother who was giggling beside him, his toy in his hand.

"He's two, Henry, listening to him is probably not a good idea." I replied, shaking my head, a bit amused by his comments.

"Very well, now that you're both cooled down..." He resumed, taking a step to walk away from us.

"Oh, because you think we're going to forget about what you've done just like that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him before walking to join Liam. "Can you give me your toy for a little while, sweetheart?" I asked, kneeling on the ground in front of him. "Mommy needs it to do something really funny."

My son handed me the item with a big smile, and I thanked him by pressing a kiss on his forehead before getting back on my feet. I turned back to Henry, the water gun barrel pointed in his direction. His eyes widened, as he had probably not expected me to take my revenge, he shook his head as if he wanted to make me change my mind, and I said, chuckling because of his scared expression :

"Who's laughing now?"

And without waiting any longer, I thew a water jet that hit him right in the face.

The battle lasted a little while. I could see that Killian, who had taken Liam on his lap when our little boy had joined him to watch us, was regularly glancing at me in a worried way, probably concerned about the fact I was running and could be making too much effort. I smiled at him several times to comfort him, but it didn't really seem to work as he was still staring at me with a worried frown. He seemed to be hesitating between asking me to stop because he thought it was dangerous for the baby or letting me continue because I was having way too much fun. Seeing he wasn't saying anything, I guessed he had finally chosen the second solution, knowing all too well I would stop right away if I felt like something was wrong, because I wanted the baby to be healthy as much as he did.

A long while later, panting, I dropped the water gun, and it fell on the grass. I gestured to Henry to ask him to stop for a few minutes, as I was feeling very tired :

"Okay, time out, kid!" I panted, sitting down on the grass to rest for a little bit.

"So you're giving up?" He bragged, approaching me with a big smile on his face.

"God no!" I answered with a little laugh, taking my hair dripping with cold water in my hands. "If you think I'm going to leave things there, you're dreaming! But you seem to forget you have an advantage, because I have the weight of your little sibling to carry. So let me rest for a few minutes, and then you'll see if I've given up."

He nodded with an amused smile and sat down next to me, panting as well but looking deeply happy by our little battle. I turned back to Killian to wave at him and show him everything was okay, but I stopped when I saw my mom's figure running toward Hook. He hadn't seen her yet as he was back to her, and he frowned seeing my expression changing. Puzzled, I glanced at Henry, who was looking as surprised as I was, and we both got up to go join our family and discover the truth about what was happening.

"Emma! Hook!" My mom shouted from the distance, drawing Killian's attention, and he got up to look at her with concern.

"What's wrong?" I asked, seeing how worried she looked and understanding at her panting that she had run on a pretty long distance.

"You absolutely need to come to Regina's. Now. It's an emergency."

"Don't we have the time to take Liam to Ashley's?" Killian asked as I was beginning to realize things were definitely very bad.

"We need to hurry up." She answered very seriously.

"I'll go, don't worry about it." Henry then decided.

I thanked him with a quick smile, so grateful he wanted to help us. He took his brother in his arms, and I kissed both my sons, waiting for them to have walked away and be sure they couldn't hear us anymore to turn back to my mom :

"Don't you want to tell us what's going on?" I asked, hanging the walkie-talkie I was usually taking with me everywhere at my belt, as I had given it to Killian to avoid wetting it while I was playing with Henry.

"It's Zelena." She said in a deep voice. "We have a problem."

* * *

"Why haven't you called me on my cellphone?" I asked, almost running in order not to fall behind my mom.

She was looking very worried, and I had never seen her walk that fast before, or displaying this dark expression. I glanced at Killian, who winced at me and started to walk even faster. We were headed for Regina's, and we were walking so quickly I was feeling like it was a question of life or death. I was still drenched because of my games with Henry, and despite the heat, I shivered when a cold drop of water ran down my spine.

"Because you never answer. Seriously, I sometimes wonder why the hell you have a cellphone if it's to never pick it up."

She had talked very dryly, and, surprised, I stopped for a second as she was carrying on walking without paying attention to me. The situation was very bad if she was talking to me that way, she was usually never using that tone with me. She was always so gentle, and it worried me so much to hear her be that cold.

"Mom, you okay?" I panted, not starting to walk again to catch my breath.

I hadn't had the time to rest after my water battle with my son, and we were almost running since we had left the park. A sudden and acute pain in my ribs made me whimper, and I placed my hand on my side, bending over to escape the pain. The baby gave a furious kick in my stomach, probably protesting against my behavior it didn't seem to like at all.

My mom and Killian finally stopped to look at me, and they suddenly noticed I was aching. Killian rushed over me to wrap his arm around my waist and help me keep my balance. I vaguely smiled at him to show him I was okay and I was just tired, as he his eyes were shinning in worry. He placed his hand on my stomach as if he wanted to make sure the baby was all right, and he helped me walk to join my mom, who was looking at me with concern :

"I'm sorry, honey." She said, placing her hand on my arm once I arrived beside her. "I shouldn't get mad at you, what's happening is not your fault. I'm just nervous."

"You still don't want to tell us what's wrong?" I asked, finally managing to breathe a little bit slower.

"It's going to waste our time, and explaining what's going on with words is actually quite complicated. You'll learn everything when we'll arrive at Regina's" She stated, restarting to walk as I was myself beginning to move again, my hand still glued to my painful ribs.

"You all right, love?" Killian asked with worry, his arm still around me as he didn't want to let go of me, too scared I would fall over.

I gave him a thumb up in order not to alarm him too much. We had obviously no time to lose, and I needed to keep on moving. My state wasn't that bad anyway, I was able to walk, I just needed to be brave. I then gently freed myself from his grip and we joined my mom, who was still almost running a few feet ahead of us.

Finally, after a few long minutes, we arrived at Regina's. My mom violently opened the door without even bothering to make sure we were following her, and I walked into the hallway, taking deep asthmatic breaths to relieve my painful lungs. Killian glanced at me, looking deeply concerned, and he took my hand before leaning forward to press a gentle kiss on my lips and encourage me. This expression of affection made me smile, and we ended up entering Regina's office, where she, my dad and the wizards were already standing and waiting for us.

"It's about time." David mumbled, obviously in a bad mood. "Think about picking up your damn phone next time."

My eyes widened, and I turned to look at Killian, who was looking as surprised as I was. It wasn't like my dad to talk to me like that either, he was always very gentle and understanding with me. I said, still panting, and I had to admit it, a bit mad because of his comment :

"Seriously? We almost raced to get here, I'm exhausted and you're still getting mad at me?"

"Okay, what's happening?" Killian intervened, knowing that the situation was getting out of hand and placing his hand in the small of my back to ease me.

I took a deep breath, aware that getting angry wouldn't solve anything and would only worsen the situation as everyone was very nervous. Once I was calmed down, I took a step into the office, my hands on my hips and wanting to finally understand what was going on, but Regina stopped me by moving her hand up, and dryly barked:

"If you take one more step, I assure you you'll regret it."

"Huh?" I asked, surprised by how violent her comment was as I hadn't done anything wrong.

"You're putting water everywhere, Swan. Seriously, you could have thought about putting on dry clothes before coming here, don't you think?"

"Are you fucking serious right now?" I shouted, my lips parted because I was finding the situation so unfair. "If I had been able to do so, I would have, believe me. But I thought we were dealing with an emergency, here."

"We are, but given how much time you took to get here, we're pretty late anyway." She mumbled, rolling her eyes.

"What the hell do you all have against me today?" I stuttered, not knowing if I should feel offended or angry because of their behavior.

"I thought you all had more important things to do than getting mad at her while she hasn't done anything wrong." Hook intervened, looking very annoyed by my family's behavior.

"He's right." Harry added with a concerned frown. "I think we should tell them everything now."

Regina gave me a contemptuous look that I didn't understand. I knew they were all nervous, but I didn't get why they were all turning their anger at me. I hadn't done anything to deserve that kind of treatment, I just wanted to help them. I forced myself to stay calm and not start yelling at them, and approached her as she was handing me a piece of paper, on which a few words were written down in a tiny handwriting. Puzzled, I took the sheet as Killian was looking behind my shoulder to understand what was happening.

There was only one sentence, lost in the immensity of the blank page, by it made my heart skip a beat.

 _If you think I'm going to give up, you're wrong, people._

"Where… Where is Robyn?" I stuttered, realizing the situation was really bad.

If Zelena had bothered to come to her sister's and give this threat, it could only be because she was planning something. She wouldn't have taken this risk otherwise, she had to have a very good reason to act that way. And my first thought was that she wanted to distract us while she was kidnapping her biological daughter.

"With her father." Regina coldly answered, but I was getting her anger now that I was aware of what was going on. "They are hiding in the forest."

I nodded, my brows together, only half reassured by this information because I knew that all of this was really bad. I mechanically placed my hand on my stomach, as if I was trying to protect the baby from an invisible danger. The witch's threat was getting more precise, and my fear of the baby being in danger suddenly rushed over me again, as I was realizing I had only managed to push it away for a little while. I took a deep breath, trying to chase away the panic attack that was coming my way. I had to stay strong, I didn't have a choice.

"What's it all about?" Killian asked with a frown. "Why giving us this message now?"

"You're right." I added, nervously biting my lower lip and trying to keep calm as I was still feeling my heart pounding almost painfully in my chest. "I don't understand. We're searching for her for weeks now. And we know she's not going to give up. She has to have something in mind, and we have to discover what she's planning..."

"Thanks for your extremely relevant statement, Swan." Regina jeered, looking very annoyed. "We've all already wondered this without your precious help. We thought you would be useful, but if things are this way, you should have stayed home, really."

I almost choked because of my indignation. I couldn't believe she was actually talking to me like that – I just wanted to help her and her family, and protect mine. I wasn't to blame for what was happening to her adoptive daughter, and her comments were clearly meaning she wanted to take me as a scapegoat. But I hadn't done anything wrong, and I was certainly not going to let her treat me that way.

"Okay." I then dryly said, stepping away from them, my voice shaky with anger. "You know what? Screw you."

"Emma..." My mom started, trying to approach me, but I lifted my hand up to stop her.

"No" I cut her off, feeling tears of rage starting to fill my eyes. "I'm talking to you too. I get you're all nervous, but I'm afraid too. And I refuse to listen to your blames, because I haven't done anything wrong. If you want to know, I would rather have stayed in the park with my sons. So if you don't need me, I'm very happy to go home, since I bother all of you so much..."

"Emma!"

Hook's scream made me turn to look at him in surprise. I didn't get why he had called my name so loudly. I had expected him to support me on this, as always, and his cry was sounding like a warning. It's only when I saw his eyes staring at something behind my back that I understood something was happening, but it was too late for me to react.

Everything went very fast. I didn't have the time to turn back and face what was behind me, because someone wrapped its arm around my throat, obstructing my breathing. When I placed my hand on my neck to try and free myself, my opponent put a bracelet stopping me from using my magic around my wrist before I could do anything else to defend myself. My parents and Killian were looking absolutely terrified, and the wizards seemed to be really surprised. I saw Regina lifting her hand up to attack the stranger, but a voice I was knowing all too well rang close to my right ear.

"I don't think so." Zelena whispered. "If you want to hurt me, you'll touch Emma and the baby at the same time. And we don't want this to happen, do we?"

I gasped in terror and felt the witch's grip tightening around my neck. So, she knew about the baby. And I was now completely helpless, she could do anything to me while I was in this position. I was feeling my heart painfully pounding in my chest, way too fast. I couldn't do a thing, I didn't have my magic anymore, and if my family was trying something, the baby could get hurt in the process. I wriggled, but she immobilized me, blocking my respiration even more.

"Because the Savior has hidden her secret from me." She resumed, sounding very happy about what was happening, and I shivered, trying to keep my balance because falling over would only make things worse. "She already has a little boy at home, and now she's with child again. I see you've enjoyed yourself, pirate." She added to Killian.

"If you don't let her go..." He barked, steeping forward, his breathing so fast because of his terror he was panting a little bit.

"What are you going to do, tell me? Attack me? Risking to hurt Emma or your baby? I don't think it's going to go this way, you know" She sighted, sounding falsely sorry for us. "And I'm going to play a little bit with her after what she's done to my daughter."

I felt a tear streaming down my face. I had imagined this situation so many times, I had been so terrified it was really going happen, she would make my family suffer, but I had tried to convince myself it was going to be okay. But now, all of my fears were getting real, right before my eyes, and I couldn't do anything to avoid what was going to happen, nor did Killian. I was feeling so powerless. The baby kicked, and a sob shook my shoulder when I realized its future was in Zelena's hand.

"I see you've been fooled by my trick." She chuckled. "Having you all in the same room, I hadn't even imagined it to be possible. Here's the deal." She added in the horrified silence that had filled in the space. "You give me Robyn without arguing, or the Savior and her baby end up six feet under."

I saw Killian's eyes searching for mine. He was looking so panicked, and tears were shinning in his beautiful blue eyes. He was losing two members of his family, and he couldn't even do something to avoid this. I looked at him and barely had the strength to articulate a quiet _I love you_

Then, in a puff of green smoke, the witch took me to a place I knew nothing about.

* * *

 **Please don't kill me? I swear i'm a nice girl! See you monday for more! :)**


	23. Chapter 23

**thanks to oncer4life11, ****Araya and  Emilee Amethyst for the reviews!**

* * *

"Oh, it looks like our heroes have finally found us." Zelena said with delight in her voice, leaning against the windowsill to look by the window more easily

She was bent to watch what was happening outside of the house she was living in years ago, when she was still in Storybrooke. I glanced at her with anger from the corner of the living room where I was settled, but it didn't seem to worry her a bit. Sitting on the floor, my back against the wall opposite to her, I had my arms wrapped around my stomach, as if it could help me if she was deciding to use her magic against the baby. I didn't answer anything, too busy trying to control my heart, that was pounding almost painfully in my chest. Starting to panic wasn't going to help me. I had to stay strong, I didn't have a choice anyway. I had to calm down for the baby, who was probably feeling my anxiety. My family was going to find a solution and get me out of there. And if all of this was horrifying, I was going to make it. It would be over soon. I was always surviving, no matter what. Right?

The witch looked at me with a cheerful smile, and my jaw clenched from the anger. She placed the walkie-talkie she had taken from me in front of her mouth, looking very excited by everything that was happening. She knew my father had its twin, and he could hear her if she decided to talk, and she was looking so happy by the situation I had to force myself to stay calm and not start to yell at her. It would only have make things worse, I knew it, I wasn't stupid.

"It's about time." She started in a mocking tone.

"You have no idea in how much trouble you're in." My dad's voice said from the yard in front of the house, a bit covered by the device's crackles.

"Oh, because in your opinion, I should be scared? I'm the one who's in charge here, my pretties, you should get used to it. And don't bother trying to come into the house for one of your famous rescue mission." She chuckled, mischievously waving at my family from behind the window. "You all know I've put a protection spell all around the place, and you'll die if you try anything. The only way for you to get the Savior back alive is to accept my offer."

"Zelena, if you don't free her right now..." Hook threatened in a very deep voice.

"I'm very sorry to break your hopes, lover boy, but you can't do anything. If you don't want to listen to me, she'll die before you can try to save her. I plan on killing her very slowly and painfully if you decide not to give me my daughter back, by the way. She deserves it after all. And you'll have the honor of listening to her screams of pain the entire time..."

"You can't do that, she's pregnant, damn it!"

His voice had broken down, and I was almost sure he was crying. I closed my eyes, trying to fight against my own tears. His distress had hit me like a punch in the face, and I would have given anything to stop his pain. I just wanted him to be happy, I loved him so much, and I couldn't stand hearing him so panicked. I started to draw little circles on my stomach with my thumb, trying to comfort myself. I had to remember the baby needed me to stay calm for its sake, and it had to stay safe, it was the most important thing right now.

"It's the all point of the plan, you idiot." Zelena sighted, rolling her eyes.

"Killian!" I then shouted, deciding it was time for me to take control because I knew he needed to hear my voice to feel better, and it was my job to comfort him when he was scared.

"Oh my god, shut the fuck up!' The witch yelled, turning back to me, looking very furious.

She quickly approached me and I bent by legs on my chest to protect my stomach in case she was in a murdering mood. Her jaw clenched in anger, she lifted her hand up and violently slapped my face before I could do anything to avoid the shot. I let go of a grunt of pain and yelled, forcing myself not to jump at her throat and punch her back :

"What the hell?!

I knew that if I tried anything, she would use her magic against me, and I was sure not to make it if that was happening, because I didn't have my powers anymore. I then glued my hand against my cheek to curb the pain and looked at her in rage, but didn't add anything.

"Emma!"

Killian was repeating my name over and over again, still in his broken voice, in the hope I would answer him. The noise of the slap and my cry had probably alarmed him, but I was scared of what the witch could do to me if I was trying to answer one more time. Zelena approached the device from her mouth again and said with fatigue :

"For the love of god, calm down! You're going to give me a headache..."

"I wanna talk to Emma!" He required.

"If you keep on yelling like that, she'll die in the next five minutes."

Killian got quiet in a matter of second, but I could hear his jerky breath ringing into the room through the device. He was so, so scared and I couldn't do anything to comfort him. It was horrifying. Zelena sighted in relief and added, looking at me in a threatening way :

"Let me be clear with you, Savior. If you try to talk to him one more time, I stifle you, understood?"

I didn't answer anything, but kept on looking at her straight into her eyes to pretend I wasn't scared. But the truth was I was terrified. I knew all too well she could do anything to me, as I had no way to defend myself. I had no weapons, no magic, nothing. And I didn't want to die, not like that, not now that I was pregnant. I wanted to see my kids growing up, I wanted to grow old next to Killian. I couldn't leave now, it was way too soon and I couldn't accept it.

"Very well, here's how it's going to go." She resumed with confidence, a little smile on her face. "It's not complicated, really. I know you have to face a dilemma because you don't want to lose anyone, so here's the deal. As I'm very nice, I'm going to give you ten hours to decide what to do. If you don't give me Robyn by midnight, the Savior and her baby die."

"What?!" Regina shouted, sounding completely appalled by her sister's words. "Fuck, Zelena, you can't do this! I know you're mad at her because she has sped up your pregnancy, but she made sure your baby was healthy! You can't kill them both like that, that's insane!"

"This is not negotiable. Be grateful I give you so much time to decide what to do." The wicked witch stated before putting the walkie-talkie on the coffee table.

And then, not paying attention to my family, who was insulting her and was still trying to communicate with me, she turned back to me with a smile that made me shiver. I got stiffed when I saw her approaching me, and she came to sit face to me, cross-legged and her hands on her knees like a little girl waiting for something.

"Very well, it looks like we have a bit of time to kill." She said, smiling in an almost innocent way.

* * *

I was looking at the glass of water Zelena was holding in front of me, hypnotized by the little waves moving at the pace of her hand, and I had to force myself to push it back. I was there for hours, and I was dying of thirst, hunger and fear. I would have given anything to drink something, anything because my throat was on fire, but I knew she had probably poisoned the water and I couldn't take this risk.

My family had tried to negotiate with the witch several times, but she hadn't accepted any of their offers. They would give her Robyn before midnight, or I would die. I anxiously glanced at the old clock hanging above the fireplace : 10 p.m. I was going to die soon, I knew it. They didn't have any other solution to save me. Regina had tried to break the spell, but it hadn't worked and it had amused Zelena a lot. They would never agree on giving her Robyn, and they were right. I was the one who had to pay for what I had done to Zelena all those years ago, not this little girl who had nothing to do with all this mess. If I hadn't sped up the witch's pregnancy, I would never have found myself here, a couple of hours away from my death. I had tried to find a way to get out of there by myself as well, but the witch had never left my sight and I was scared a try was only going to sped up my unavoidable death. It was all my fault, I could only blame myself, and I had to do with it.

"As you wish." She said, shrugging and putting the glass back on the coffee table. "If you don't want to enjoy these last hours on earth..."

I glanced at her and opened my mouth to reply something, but the walkie-talkie started to crackle for the hundredth time since I had arrived in the house. Regina's voice rang into the room as the witch was taking the device in her hand :

"Okay, Zelena. We accept your offer."

I gasped in terror. I hadn't expected that kind of thing to happen, I had thought they all had enough common sense to leave me there and protect the poor child. Utterly panicked, I started to yell, trying to change their mind :

"Are you all completely insane?! My life isn't precious enough to risk the one of a 3-year-old little girl! You can't take her future away from her! You can't do that, for fuck's sake!

"And we can't lose you." Henry intervened in a very husky voice.

He had joined the others in front of the house during the afternoon, warned about the situation by Regina, and I could hear he was terrified. I could feel my family's terror in my bones, and I just wanted to yell because it was so horrible, even more terrible than my own fear. Zelena looked at me with her jaw clenched, and I shut up, remembering the threat she had made a few hours ago.

"I'm going to the window, show me Robyn." Zelena ordered.

"Not before you free Emma." My dad countered with confidence.

"Because you think I'm stupid enough to fall into your trick? I want proof Robyn is with you and you're planning on giving her to me."

"In that case, we want to see Emma as well." David requested.

"Very well, then." She surrendered, looking very annoyed by all of this. "Come here, you." She added, violently grabbing me by the elbow and forcing me to get on my feet.

I limped as she was dragging me toward the window so my family could see me. She almost threw me against the glass, but I luckily managed to stop myself before hitting it. I almost immediately placed my hand on my stomach, letting go of a sight of relief, my heart pounding very fast in my chest at the idea the baby could have been hurt if I had struck the wall at this speed. A bit shocked, I glanced at the window to see what was happening outside, trying to take some deep breaths to calm myself down.

It was dark in the yard. The thunder was rumbling, announcing a storm that was coming our way. I saw the figures of those I loved standing a few feet away from the house. I couldn't see their faces, but I could guess how worried they were, and their panic made me want to cry.

"Now, show me Robyn!"

The figure I guessed to be Regina turned on her side. She was holding a motionless child in her arms. I vigorously shook my head, hoping they would get what I was trying to say. They couldn't risk the kid's life by leaving her with an unstable mother. They had to protect her. I was a grown-up, and it was my fault if I was standing here right now. Robyn's life was more important than mine, and they couldn't put the little girl in danger like that.

"Your turn, give us Emma back."

At the exact same moment my dad was saying those words, a lightening bolt enlightened the scene. I closed my eyes, blinded by the light. It only lasted for a millisecond, but it was enough for me to distinguish something that made my heart skip a beat.

Regina was holding something in her arms

But it wasn't Robyn.

I guessed they had thought the darkness would be enough to trick Zelena and make her believe her daughter was there with them and they were accepting her offer. But the little figure was only a rag doll. They had probably planned to attack Zelena when she would go out under the porch. But their plan had just fallen apart, because of a stupid lightening that had ruined everything.

The entire world seemed silence for a couple of seconds, and I had the crazy hope the wicked witch hadn't noticed anything. But she quickly got very mad. She grabbed my arm by surprise and threw me against one of the wall. My back painfully hit the surface, and I whimpered in pain before sitting down on the ground, tears in my eyes and my hand on the small of my back.

"Well tried." Zelena whispered in rage. "But you've just sped up her death. Emma dies in one hour if you don't bring me Robyn."

I heard my mom bursting into tears as Zelena was throwing the walkie-talkie across the room in an act of anger.

* * *

I was staring at the hand of the clock moving, producing a little regular clatter, and my heart skipped a beat. Ten minutes. I had exactly ten minutes left to live. My family hadn't tried another trick, and I knew they had fortunately no intention of giving Robyn to her biological mother. And Zelena hadn't lied, she was going to kill me. I could see her nervously clenching her fist from the other side of the room, as if she was forcing herself not to use her magic against me. I knew that, given her anger, my death was probably going to be very painful. I was terrified, and I hated myself for what was happening. Everything was my fault. Because of me, Henry and Liam would lose their mother. Killian would be forced to overcome my death, he would have to see another one of his lover passing away. And the baby was going to die too, before it had even had a chance to live. My family was trying to communicate with Zelena since their failed try of rescue almost an hour earlier, but she was refusing to answer them because she was too mad at them for trying to trick her.

I had only ten minutes left, and the truth was, I was hoping it was already over. Why wait? I could as well end this the sooner possible, given the fact I wasn't going to make it anyway. I would rather get rid of my terror right now, because it was compressing my guts, and I was feeling horribly sick.

"Zelena, what are we waiting for?" I asked in a husky voice, my throat so dry because of the dehydration. "We both know they're not going to give you Robyn."

"Oh, so the Savior wants to die?" She jeered, turning back to face me and looking at me with a disgusting smile that made my teeth crash into my mouth.

"If you wanna know, I really don't, but there is no other possibility, so I'd rather all of this to be over now instead of waiting for something that's not going to happen."

"I gave them one hour. And you know I always keep my promises."

I rolled my eyes. Despite my fear, she was managing to annoy me anyway. The baby gave a furious kick in my stomach, probably feeling my panic, and I placed my hand on my bump to comfort it with the sudden feeling I was going to start crying.

 _I'm so sorry, sweetie. Because of me, you haven't even had the chance to live._

"Bloody hell, let us talk to to her, witch!"

My family's supplications had rung into the room hundreds of times already, but the way Killian had said these words gave me the shiver. His voice was shaking so hard, and I was blaming myself for hurting him so much. I closed my eyes, quietly praying for my family so they could overcome my death. I just didn't want them to be too sad, and I certainly couldn't accept the fact they could feel guilty because they hadn't been able to save me.

I would have wanted to tell them so many things. I would have wanted to make them understand I was loving them more than anything in this world. They were my everything. They had offered me a family while I was all alone, with no one by my side. They had made me the one I was today, and the happiness they had given me these last few years was so powerful I didn't even know how to explain it with words. So, aware that I couldn't worsen the situation anyway, I said in a falsely confident way while I was actually feeling like I was going to crumble because of my terror. :

"I wanna talk to them."

The wicked witch snorted, looking at me in a mocking way as if I was the most idiotic woman she had ever seen. I decided to keep going without letting her get to me. It was probably the last negotiation I was leading in my entire life, and I really wanted to obtain what I wanted.

"Even the sentenced have the right to a last meal before dying, Zelena. I just want to tell them some things. I have two sons out there who have nothing to do with all this mess. I just want them to know I love them before I go, can you understand that?"

She stared at me, her eyes shinning in a strange way, and I suddenly understood I had her attention. I took a deep breath, aware that at the slightest mistake, I would break the only chance I had to talk to my family one last time.

"You're doing all of that to get your daughter back, I know you get how much I love my family. You want to punish me for what I did to you? Okay. You want to make them suffer because they took Robyn away from you? It's done. But you don't have to torture them even more. I just want to talk to them for a couple of minutes. You have nothing to lose by answering this request."

She seemed to think for a couple of seconds before glancing at the clock, that was telling me I had only five minutes left. I was starting to wonder if she was going to answer me or simply keep me waiting when, her jaw clenched as if it was asking her a superhuman effort, she nodded and handed me the walkie-talkie. I grabbed the device with a shaky hand. I couldn't believe I had gotten what I wanted, it was looking so surreal. For some reason, she had listened to me, and I felt my breathing fastening ever more. It was it. It was the last words I would ever tell to my family. I knew I had to choose them wisely, to try to make them feel a little bit better about my death, and make them understand they didn't have to feel guilty at all. Everything was my fault, I had only myself to blame and I just wanted them to be happy.

"Hey." I started in a somewhat shaky voice.

"Emma!"

My mom had screamed in a broken voice. I closed my eyes, trying to gather my strength and find the right words to make them understand in such little time how much I loved them and how grateful I was to have spent my last years on this earth with them by my side. Deciding I didn't have enough time to deeply think about it, I trusted my intuition and resumed :

"I only have a few minutes, so I'll be quick. I just wanted to tell you I love you all so, so much. I know it's going to be hard at first, but try not to be too sad, okay? Can you do this for me? I just want y'all to be happy. Henry?"

"Mom." He answered, his voice broken, and I felt tears forming in my eyes because my son was suffering because of me.

"I love you so much, kid, don't ever forget this, understood? I'm so proud of you, you're everything a mother could wish for and getting to know you was one of the most incredible thing I've ever lived in my life. I suppose Liam and Neal aren't with you? Could you tell them I love them so much for me?"

"Swan..." Hook started and my heart skipped a beat at the sound of his voice.

"Killian, I knew this is painful. I've seen you die several times, and it was horrible. But I just want you to be happy. You've managed to bring my walls down, and you made me the woman I am today and I could never thank you enough for that. These years spent with you were the happiest of my life. But I just want you to be okay. Grieve, and don't be too sad. Find another woman if she makes you happy..."

"You know it's not possible." He said in a whisper, telling these words I was so scared of hearing from his mouth because I knew him, I knew he was going to hang on my memory instead of going on with his life, and I didn't want this to happen.

"I know." I said in a muffled voice, trying to hold back a sob. "Just try to be happy, do this for me. Take this as my last will. Take good care of Henry and Liam for me, all right?"

"I can't lose you, Swan.." He sobbed.

I had so many things left to tell him, but I saw Zelena approaching me from the corner of my eyes to show me the conversation was over. I then hastily said, aware that these were my last words to him :

"I love you."

I knew I had made the right choice. It was the best thing to do. I wanted him to remember this sentence as the last thing I had ever said to him. I wanted these three little words I had been so scared to tell at first to be the thing that would help him find sleep when the sadness would be too powerful for him to get some rest. I just didn't want my family to suffer too much, and I was hoping I had found the right words to help them mourn my loss. Their happiness was all I wanted, and I was hoping they would find the strength in themselves to overcome my death.

Zelena violently took the device away from my hands and walked toward the window with a smile to see my family while she was talking to them :

"It was really moving and I hate to break this beautiful moment, but she doesn't have any time left. It's over, and it's all your fault."

Several voices started to scream at the same time, forming an inconsistent noise, impossible to understand. I heard Zelena sighting in annoyance, and a crazy idea suddenly emerged in my mind.

I hadn't tried anything yet because I was scared to die sooner than expected, but I didn't have anything else to lose. She was going to kill me anyway. I should at least try something to hang on my life one more time. Die as the fighter I had always been.

She was back to me, not knowing what I wanted to do. Slowly, careful not to make any noise, I got on my feet, staring at the witch's neck. She was busy trying to make my family shut up, because my close ones had started to yell, and she hadn't noticed what I was doing.

I wasn't thirsty anymore. I was feeling the adrenalin running through my veins, and I was electrified. I was aware I couldn't make any mistake. It was my last chance, and at the sightliest noise, everything could be over. I had to do everything right if I wanted to live.

Walking on my tiptoe, moving at a very slow pace, I approached Zelena, not even breathing because I was too scared she would notice my presence in her back. I was almost behind her when she suddenly looked up, and she met my reflexion in the glass toward which she was leaning.

Surprised, she turned back to face me. Without thinking about it, I jumped at her throat to tackle her on the floor.

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 **So guys, once again don't kill me please, I love you x) Also, I'll be gone for ten days to go to Vancouver (YEAH), so I don't know if I will be able to update there. But because this chapter ends on a mean cliffhanger, I'll do everything I can to update on Wednesday so you won't have to wait for too long. See you soon, and if you don't hear for me, it's because I'm dead of Happiness!**


	24. Chapter 24

**thanks to oncer4life11 and Emilee Amethyst for the reviews**

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"Swan!"

I didn't pay attention to Hook's voice calling my name through the walkie-talkie. The device was miraculously still working after falling on the ground for the second time, and I was hearing Killian better than ever. His voice was shaking, and I really wanted to take the talkie and tell him I was all right, I was alive and he didn't have to be so sad. But I couldn't get distracted. Sitting on Zelena's leg, I was too busy trying to control her to think about anything else. At the slightest mistake, I was losing the advantage, and I couldn't let that happen.

I had benefited from my impulse to tackle her on the ground, and she was now struggling like a little devil underneath me to make me fall. She was definitely stronger than she seemed. I managed to immobilize her as she was trying to punch me in the face. I took her arms and nailed them on the floor above her head with my left hand. I was in a rage, I was feeling the adrenalin running through my veins, and I couldn't think straight anymore. I leaned forward, and with my right hand, I violently hit her jaw.

I myself got surprised by how violent my punch had been, and immediately felt an acute pain in my fist. I chose to ignore it, too happy about what I had just done. Zelena had been knocked out by the shot, and she was lying on the floor, her eyes closed. I knew it was the moment or never to try and escape from this hell.

I quietly prayed every gods I could think of so her protection spell had only been placed on the outside of the door. I didn't want to get grilled as I was so close to be safe. I got on my feet and rushed toward the hallway, my heart painfully pounding in my chest. My heartbeats were so fast they were making me dizzy, but I couldn't stop what I was doing. I had to get out of there.

However, I had probably overestimated Zelena's state of unconsciousness. With a grunt that seemed to ring against the wall of the room, she managed to roll on her stomach and firmly grabbed my ankle. I got unbalanced for a second, but not enough to fall on the floor. I took a step back to stay on my feet, because I knew it was a question of life or death, and if I fell I would probably not have another chance to get away from this mess.

I saw her moving from the corner of my eyes, and only understood what she wanted to do a second too late for me to react. I felt the carpet falling from under my feet, and couldn't do anything to avoid what was going to happen. This time, I wasn't able to stay up, and took off the ground before falling on my back. I whimpered when I felt the pain taking over my spine. I mechanically placed my hand on my stomach, not even managing to think clearly anymore because of my fall. I didn't pull myself back together quick enough, and Zelena was on my legs less than a second after I had collapsed.

She sat on me to keep me still. Her weight was gluing my aching back to the floor, and I winced in pain. I looked at her straight into her eyes to react at the right time when she would decide to attack me, and I noticed that her jaw had already turned into a quite deep variation of purple. I quietly congratulated myself for punching her so hard. If I had to die, I wouldn't do it without leaving a mark on my murderer. It wasn't much at all, but it was actually managing to make me feel a bit better about my death.

"I have to say it was well done, because you've surprised me." She said as I was wriggling under her to try and free myself. "Now, allow me to have a little bit of fun with you after what you've just done."

I saw her lifting her fist up in the air, and tried to protect my stomach in a maternal reflex. I turned my head to prevent her from hitting me, but her hand touched me anyway, and I felt my brow bone bursting open because of the shot. I yelled from the pain, still trying to free myself from her weight. My tries however didn't succeed, and she hit me once more, on the jaw this time, imitating what I had done only a few minutes earlier.

The pain was so strong my mind was idling. But I couldn't give up. I was in pain, every inch of my body was aching, but I was keeping on fighting. The adrenalin was running through me and was helping me to fight against the pain. It was that or dying anyway. I didn't have a choice, I had to be brave. For my family.

The witch lifted her hand up again, but this time, she opened it and I understood right away she was about to use her magic. If I was trusting the sick grin she was offering me, I could quite easily guess she was about to hurt me really badly. My breathing got stuck into my throat for an endless second, and everything seemed to idle as I was picturing the people I loved behind the other side of the door. I had to fight, I was going to survive this, for them.

I knew my life was put on the line. So, seeing that she was about to hurt me, I found enough strength in myself to release my legs with a violent kick. She found herself lying on the floor, as surprised as I was, because I hadn't thought for one second I still had the strength to do something like that. I sat on her, planning on knocking her out, for good this time. It was the only way for me to get out of there, but she wasn't agreeing with my plan.

She had several advantages : I was dehydrated, I hadn't eaten for hours and I was pregnant. She knew that I was weaker than usual, and she smiled once again as if she pitying me. Without too much effort, she made me roll on my back to take the strong position again.

It's when I saw her eyes sparkling in madness that I understood it was probably the end for me. She once again lifted her hand up above my head, and with the other one, she grabbed my throat to strangle me. The air wasn't reaching my lungs anymore, and I was slowly choking. Completely panicked, I looked all around me to find something that would help me get out of this horrible situation. My survival instinct was stronger than ever. I couldn't die, I just couldn't, not now, not like that. It was so stupid, and way too soon.

In that exact same moment, the walkie-talkie, that was still crackling, drew my attention. My family was still calling for me, and I could hear someone sobbing in the background. It was laying on the floor not too far from my head, and for one second, I got surprised by how lucky I was. The quicker possible, I gathered my last strengths to wriggle and free my left arm, that was under Zelena's body. I managed to do so in a few seconds, and reached for the device.

"What are you.." She started, surprised by my gesture.

She didn't have the time to finish her sentence. I lifted my weapon up and violently hit her on the back of the head. I saw her face stiffening in a wince of pain right before she fell on me as a deadweight, unconscious.

I pushed her back with a little wince and got back on my feet, one of my hand placed on my stomach. I couldn't believe I had seriously managed to win against the witch while she had deprived me from my powers. I dropped the walkie-talkie, that had definitely broken because of the last impact, and it hit the floor in a muffled noise. I took a few seconds to catch my breath, also waiting for the baby to kick. I wanted to make sure it was all right. I had done the best I could to protect my stomach, but I had fallen over several times, and Zelena had just collapsed on me. I waited the longer I could, but my child stayed completely still. I tried to control myself as I was starting to panic. I couldn't lose control now, I had to get out of there before. For now, the most important thing was to escape if I wanted my baby to have the sightliest chance to live.

I rushed toward the door but suddenly decided to stop. I didn't know if Zelena had placed a protection spell inside of the house to forbid me from going out in case I would try to escape, and I really didn't want to die now that I was almost safe. I approached her and leaned toward her inanimate body to take the scarf she was wearing around her neck and use it as a lure to get out of my prison.

As I was firmly holding my way out in my hand when something hanging at the witch's belt drew my attention. A bit puzzled, I made her roll on her back to look at her more carefully, and gasped in surprised.

It was there. The apprentice's wand. The one we were seeking everywhere for months to send the wizards back home. It was right in front of me, and I only had to reach for it to take it in my hand.

I didn't wait to think more about it and took it in my palm before running toward the front door. I wrapped the scarf around my hand to touch the handle, and as I had expected, it opened with a little grinding. Not managing to walk straight, I got out of the house without even bothering to close the door behind me. I got a bit unbalanced by the cold air of the night that hit me all at once, and didn't really know where I was anymore.

It was pitch-black outside, I couldn't see a thing because of the darkness, but I could spot my family's figures standing in the middle of the yard. I couldn't see their faces nor discriminate them from each other because it was too dark and I was too disoriented. Too shocked to do anything, I let go of the scarf, which immediately got taken away by the wind. Not knowing what to do, I just stood there in front of the door, feeling like the all world was spinning around me

"… Swan?"

Hearing my surname acted as an electroshock on me. I saw the figures rushing toward me, and I imitated them. I had barely had the time to go down the stairs of the porch that Killian was already holding me in his arms. He buried his face into the crook of my neck and squeezed me so tight I suddenly felt it hard to breathe. But I didn't care. I was way too relieved to be near him, and I wrapped both my arms around him to pull him a little bit closer to me and make sure it was real, I was safe and nothing bad was going to happen to me.

The other members of my family didn't take long to join us, and I was caught into an intense collective embrace. I couldn't really distinguish my loved ones from one another, but I just settled for hugging them, so happy to feel them close to me as I had really thought I would never see them again. I was hearing their sobs and the inconsistent words they were saying to me, and I felt a little pinch of guilt in my chest. I was feeling so bad for having scared them so much, but I was with them now. I wouldn't go anywhere. I had fought, and I was alive.

After a long while spent in their comforting arms, I ended up pulling away from them, and turned to look at Regina. She was holding a bit back from all these embraces, but she was looking so relieved I was alive and well. She stepped forward when she saw I was about to talk, and I took a deep breath before starting, still utterly shocked by the last events :

"Zelena is inside." I stated in a husky voice. "She's knocked out. If you could take that off, I think you're probably going to need it for your sister."

I showed her my arm, where the black bracelet forbidding me to use my powers was still locked, and she took it off quite quickly. I let go of a sight of relief when I felt my magic coming back to life. I was feeling much more powerful, and it was making me feel so much better. She smiled at me, but I stopped her as she was about to walk away from us to go into the house. She didn't seem to understand why I was calling her back, but I opened my hand to show her the wand I was still holding in it. My fingers were shaking and it was hard for me to keep the item in my palm.

"I think you should be interested by this." I simply said.

I saw her eyes widening, and she reached for the wand, staring at it like it was the most precious thing she had ever seen. She made it spin between her fingers and carefully examined it, probably to make sure it was the real one. She didn't say anything for a few seconds, too surprised to be able to answer me.

"How?" She finally stuttered.

"Later." I decided. "I don't think Zelena will stay unconscious for much longer, and it would be stupid if she escaped after everything that happened."

My friend nodded and rushed toward the front door to go and get her sister. I turned back to my family, my entire body shaking quite violently. My loved ones seemed so astounded, and tears of relief were streaming down their faces. Hook hadn't let go of me and was still holding me close to him, both his arms wrapped around me as if he was scared I would disappear again. I placed my head on his shoulder, realizing I was only managing to calm down when I was feeling close to him. After a few seconds, he ended up pulling away just a little bit. He stared at me before cupping my cheek, leaving his left arm around my waist.

I winced. The touch of his hand against my bruises was almost unbearable. Now that I was safe, I was finally feeling the pain of Zelena's punches. My hand was also aching from hitting her too hard, and I was feeling really bad. My family hadn't seemed to have noticed my wounds because of the darkness, and my reaction seemed to worry them even more.

"You're... You're hurt." Killian stated in a voice muffled by his sobs.

"It's nothing." I gently comforted him, not wanting him to get even more worried.

"It's not." My mom corrected, carefully looking at me with a frown. "You have very bad bruises from what I'm seeing."

"You should see her face..."

I was barely finishing my sentence that my legs became very weak all at once. The adrenalin that was keeping me on my feet had just disappeared, and I had suddenly no strength left. My legs were shaking too hard to be able to support my weight, and I didn't even have the strength to slow my fall down. Everything was feeling like a dream, the time seemed like stretched and I didn't even know if what I was living was real or not.

Killian caught me right before I hit the ground. I managed to get back up with his help, and he almost carried me to the porch of the house. He made me sit down on the steps and the light that was coming from the front door allowed me to see his red eyes. He had probably cried so much, thinking that he was losing me and the baby and he couldn't do anything about it. I grabbed his fingers to comfort him and tried to smile at him, but I had to give up on this idea because my face was aching way too much. With my free hand, I took Henry's and stared at him straight into his eyes. I didn't even know how to explain him how happy I was I had the chance to see him growing up.

"How are you feeling?" My dad suddenly asked, breaking the silence that was surrounding us. "Do you need anything?"

"If you have water, I'd like some. I'm dying of thirst." I said with a little smile, choosing to ignore the pain to comfort my close ones.

He nodded and gently whispered "Of course, sweetheart." He took his hand away from my hair, but took the time to press a paternal kiss on my forehead before walking away from us. I looked at him disappearing into the night, happy to know I would be able to drink soon. I didn't know how much longer I could stay like this, because I was so thirsty I was feeling dizzy.

"I'm calling an ambulance." My mom stated with a sniff, looking like she was about to start crying again.

I didn't even think about protesting against this idea. The baby hadn't moved yet, and it was making me so anxious. It couldn't be dead. I had to make sure it was safe and healthy. I had fought for it, so it could have a chance to live, and if I learned it hadn't survived, I didn't know what I would do with myself. I was pretty sure I would crumble for good.

I shivered from the cold. The storm that had raged earlier was now gone, but the night was pretty fresh and I was still only wearing a tank top. Without asking me anything, Killian took off his leather jacket and placed it around my shoulder. I thanked him and cuddled into the clothes with a sight of relief. It was smelling like him, like the sea and leather, and it was making me feel so much better.

"The ambulance will be here in a few minutes." My mom said as my father was coming back with a bottle of water.

I nodded to quietly thank him and eagerly drank more than half of the bottle with the feeling I was extinguishing a fire in my throat. The thirst had become so strong it was aching, and being able to make the pain stop was feeling really good.

"Emma." Killian started, his hand on my leg as he didn't want to break any physical contact with me. "Do you think… Do you know if the baby's all right?"

"I don't know." I admitted in a shaky voice. "I tried to protect my stomach the best I could, but Zelena collapsed on me. It hasn't moved since I came out, and..."

My voice broke, but I didn't start crying. I was feeling too weak to do so, and my eyes stayed completely dry. Killian just wrapped his arms around me and I placed my head on his shoulder as he was saying :

"Come here, baby. It's okay, you're amazing and you did so good."

He started to gently stroke my back with his right hand, and placed his hook on my stomach as if he wanted to protect the baby. I closed my eyes to try and calm myself down a little bit. It wouldn't help the baby if I started to panic. Killian's strokes were actually helping me a lot, and I started to quietly pray every gods so my baby was alive and well.

I was still holding Henry's hand tight. I kept silence for a few minutes, my head buried in Killian's neck. He was still rocking me against his chest, and it was making me feel so much better. I started talking again, but didn't move a bit to stay close to him.

"Where is Liam?"

"In the loft." My mom answered. "He's with Neal, it's Harry, Ron and Hermione who are watching them. I should call them, by the way. They've asked us to tell them everything when we would know what had happened..."

"It was a good idea to leave them there." I said as my mom was walking away to call the wizards. "Being here wasn't good for them. I wouldn't have wanted them to see me like that."

"Don't worry about them, love, they're fine." Killian whispered, looking like he was calming down a little bit now that I was near him, even if I could sense he was still so worried about the baby. "The one we need to take care of right now is you. You and the baby."

I nodded and he kept on running his fingers up and down my spine as we were waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

* * *

The vehicle had just started off. The paramedics had forced me to lay down on a stretcher while all I wanted was to stay cuddled into Killian's arms. He was sitting next to me, our fingers woven together, but it wasn't enough to calm my anxiety down. The only thing that was preventing me from panicking was feeling his arms wrapped around me.

I turned my head and inadvertently met my reflexion in the ambulance's window. I winced and placed my hand on my face. My jaw was now dark purple, my right brow bone was swollen and dried blood was covering my face while blue marks had appeared around my neck. I was in such a lamentable state, and I suddenly felt ashamed Henry had seen me like that. It only managed to worsen the shaking that had taken control over me when I had escaped and that was only calming down when I was snuggled against Killian.

I needed comfort more than ever, and I met Killian's gaze. I could see he was doing everything in his power not to show it to me, but he was terrified. His eyes were shinning with tears he was refusing to let go, because he wanted to be strong for me. Deciding that I had had enough, I undid the straps that were wrapped around my chest and my stomach and got up to go sit next to him.

"Darling, you need to..."

He didn't have the time to finish his sentence. I had cuddled against his chest, and he had gotten quiet. He wrapped bot his arms around me to hold me close in a comforting embrace. I sighted as he was pressing a gentle kiss on my temple, and felt like my heartbeats were slowing down a little bit. I had already stopped shaking, and I buried my face into the crook of his neck to breathe him.

As we were both silents, only our jerky breaths breaking the quiet, I suddenly felt a huge kick in my lower stomach. I gasped and immediately placed my hand on my bump, before turning to Killian, my lips parted in surprise. His expression told me he had also felt the baby move, and he sighted with tears in his eyes.

A wave of relief rushed over me, and it was so strong everything started to spin around me. It was alive. I had made it, and it was alive. It wasn't dead because of me. I had managed to save it. It was going to live and have a good life, and nothing bad was going to happen to our child.

Without notice, I started to cry, husky sobs shaking my shoulders. It was like everything that I had lived these past few hours had finally gotten real in my mind, and I was realizing what had happened to me and what I had escaped from. All the tears I had forbidden myself to shed were now streaming down my face, and I had no idea how to calm myself down.

Hook pulled me a little bit closer to him. I guessed at his shaky voice he was trying not to sob as well as he was saying :

"I thought I'd lost you both."

I didn't answer anything, my face in his neck as the ambulance was driving fast in the darkness to get me to the hospital.

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 **Here we go, I managed to update! See, I've been nice this time! I'll try to update next monday, even if I don't promsie anything. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter! See you soon!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Hey guys! I'm finally here with the new chapter! I'm sorry I took so long to update but I was in Vancouver, and decided to enjoy my vacation and take a little break with the work :) I'm going to start updating twice a week, as before, on Monday and Friday. Thanks a lot to oncer4life11, paupaupi, Emilee Amethyst and Araya for the reviews, and I hope you're gonna like this chapter! :)**

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I was staring at the neon lights hanging on the ceiling, looking at them scrolling above my head and trying to stay awake by focusing on them. Now that I wasn't in the heat of the combat anymore, I was absolutely exhausted. But I wanted to make sure the baby was okay before falling asleep. It wasn't going to take much longer anyway, because the paramedics were taking me to the ultrasound right now. I hadn't even thought about protesting when they had forced me to lay back down on the stretcher, saying that given what I had just lived and the fact we didn't know if the baby was okay yet, staying on my feet wasn't a good idea. I was actually feeling like I didn't have any strength left in my body anymore, and I didn't know if I would have been capable to walk to the examination room.

Killian was walking beside me, my hand tightly squeezed in his. He hadn't let go of me once since I had escaped, as if he wanted to make sure I was there and I wasn't going to disappear once again. I looked up to him and tried to smile to comfort him because I knew he was so anxious about what was happening, but I only managed to give him half a grin. Every inches of my body was aching, and the punches I had received on my face were feeling like they were on fire. Right now, I just wanted to fall asleep and forget about this all mess, but I had to know if the baby was all right before finally allowing myself to get some rest.

We finally arrived to the examination room, and Killian lifted me up from the stretcher, one arm on my back and the other under my legs, to gently lay me down on the table. I didn't protest and wrapped my arms around his shoulder to help him in his task. I wouldn't have been able to get up anyway, and feeling him near me was very comforting. After making sure that I didn't need anything, the paramedics left us alone while we were waiting for Whale, who were going to come and check on me any minute now. It was cold in the room. I wrapped Killian's jacket around my shoulder to try to keep a little bit warmer, and the smell of the familiar leather reassured me a little bit.

"You okay?" Killian asked in a very gentle voice, leaning forward to look at me carefully. "You look like you're cold..."

"I would kill for a hot cocoa with cinnamon." I answered in a weak voice, trying to look better than I really was in order not to worry him too much.

He offered me half a smile and started to draw little circles on the back on my hand with his thumb as his hook was understandably landing on my stomach. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, enjoying his strokes and trying to relax. The touch of his skin against mine was making me feel so much better, and I was so happy he was there beside me as I was facing this horrible situation.

"Has… The baby moved since..." He wavered.

"It hasn't" I whispered, shaking my head and feeling a sob obstructing my throat but refusing to let it out. "But it doesn't mean it isn't okay." I added, aware that I was mostly trying to reassure myself.

"I know, love." He said with a gentle smile. "I'm sure it's all right. It's a fighter, as its mom, isn't it?"

I gave him a slight smile as an answer, touched by this statement. He didn't seem to be that certain our child was okay, but I didn't add anything, aware that he just wanted me to feel better. So I just kept on waiting for the doctor to arrive as he was gently resuming his strokes on my hand.

Five minutes later, I saw Whale's familiar face appearing by the open door. He had lost his regular cheerful smile, and was looking deeply concerned. As if I was quietly asking for the baby to be all right, I placed my hand on my stomach with a little sight, my hand brushing against Killian's hook.

"How are you holding up?" Our friend asked, approaching us.

He wasn't walking straight, as if he had just gotten out of bed, but he seemed very focused at the same time. He was ready to do his job, I had no doubt about it, and I was trusting him. I simply nodded to answer his question, deciding that the most important thing right now was to know if the baby was all right, and I added :

"For now, we just want to know how's the baby. It moved when we were in the ambulance, but..."

"No other sign since then?"

I shook my head and pressed my lips together to hold back the sob that was still stuck into my throat. I had to stay calm. It wouldn't help if I started to panic, and my child needed me to be okay.

"It doesn't mean something's wrong." He tried to reassure me, seeing that his words were making me anxious. "Can you lift your shirt up, please?"

I nodded and obeyed without adding anything. Killian let go of my hand to place his on the naked skin of my baby bump. I took a deep breath and looked up at Whale as he was getting the ultrasound ready. It seemed to last an eternity to me, even if I knew only a few seconds had actually passed.

He finally slowly approached the probe from my stomach. I didn't even startle when the cold jelly touched my skin, I was too focused to notice it. There was an endless second of silence, then the regular heartbeat of the baby started to ring into the room.

"It means it's okay, right?" Killian asked, pronouncing the words that were burning my lips, his hand grabbing mine once again.

"Have you received any kind of shock on your stomach?" The doctor said without really answering the question, his eyes still glued to the screen.

"I don't… I don't know." I stuttered, worried by the fact he had avoided to answer us clearly. "I did the best I could, but Zelena collapsed on me, and… Is it okay?"

Everything was quiet for a few more seconds as Whale was still passing the probe on my skin. I thought for a horrible instant I was going to implode from the stress. I had felt my child move inside of me, I had heard his heartbeat and I had thought it was all right. But now, Whale's behavior was panicking me and I didn't know what to do with myself anymore. But he finally started to talk again, turning to face us with a little relieved smile.

"Everything seems perfect to me. Your child is definitely a fighter."

Killian and I let go of a relieved sight at the exact same time. Hook then leaned forward and, ignoring Whale, who had the thoughtfulness to look away for a bit, he gave me a gentle kiss on the lips, then on the forehead before squeezing my hand in his. Pure happiness was sparkling in his eyes as he was staring at me like I was the most precious thing on earth. He had thought he had lost us both the baby and me, but we were safe now. He was looking so happy, and I could guess he was about to start crying.

I myself felt hot tears starting to stream down my face. Everything was okay. I had just lived an absolute nightmare, but everything had fallen back into place. I was miraculously alive, my baby as well. I had thought I was going to die for real, and feeling the touch of Killian's hand against mine seemed a bit surreal too me.

Whale kept on examining me for a long while to make sure I was okay. Now that I was comforted and knew my child was in good shape, I didn't even have the strength to fight against the exhaustion anymore. My eyes were closing on their own, and Hook leaned forward as Whale was taking the probe away from my stomach.

"Sleep, baby, you must be exhausted. Everything's fine now. You're safe."

"You're staying here?" I asked in a low voice, my mind a bit foggy because I was so tired, and not wanting him to leave me because his presence was making me feel so much better.

"Of course." He promised, pressing a tender kiss on the top of my head. "I'm not leaving you for a second. I swear."

I didn't even have the strength to answer and fell asleep right away, our fingers still woven together.

* * *

"I feel so bad about what we've done..."

"Look, I'm not going to lie to you and tell you you did everything right earlier, but it's over now. She's okay."

"I know, but I have no idea what to do to redeem myself."

"She knows you love her. It's the most important thing right now."

I was hearing my family's voices a bit distorted as I was slowly emerging from my sleep. I didn't really pay attention to the sentences I had just heard, and let out of a little whimper, still half asleep. Everything went quiet in the room all at once, and Killian's voice gently started :

"Are you awake, beautiful?"

I opened my eyes to discover I was in a hospital room, only enlightened by a little pilot light laying next to the bed. My parents, Regina, Henry and Killian were at my bedside, and I smiled to reassure them as they were all looking extremely worried, probably wondering if I was okay. Killian was sitting on a chair next to the bed and was gently running his hand though my hair. I was holding his hook in my hand, as if I had tried to comfort myself during my sleep.

"Are you aching somewhere? You whimpered in your sleep." Hook added, resuming his strokes in my head.

"No, I'm fine." I answered, moving to lean against the head board and look at my family more easily. "Sleeping did me good."

I suddenly frowned, realizing what I had just said, and I carefully ran my hand on my face to make sure of what I was feeling. Before falling asleep, I was in such pain I could barely smile or talk, but I couldn't feel a thing now. I turned to question Killian, a bit perplexed by this discovery :

"Did they give me painkillers? My face is not hurting anymore."

"I've healed you." Regina answered as I was still stroking my face, as if I couldn't believe I wasn't in pain anymore, and I stopped when I heard her words. "With my magic. It seemed like the least I could do after what has happened."

"Thank you." I said with honesty, surprised by her gesture. "Truly Regina, thanks a lot. I don't really know what to say..."

"You don't have to say anything, you know." My friend answered with a shrug, and I frowned once again.

This behavior wasn't like her. By looking more carefully at my family, I was starting to realize something was off with them. They were looking a bit sad, and I couldn't understand why, because everything was all right now. I bit my lower lip in worry, wondering if something had happened while I was asleep.

"What's going on?" I then asked, turning to look at Killian, still holding his hook in my hand. "You're all acting very strangely..."

"We've just all been very scared for you." My dad answered with a slight smile. "But everything's okay now."

"Do you need something?" My mom added, looking very concerned about my well-being. "Anything, we'll get it for you."

"Well… If you have something to eat, it'd be awesome." I said with a somewhat sheepish smile. "I haven't eaten anything in hours, I'm starving and I'm not sure it's really good for the baby to stay that way."

"Do you want something in particular?" My mom kindly asked.

"No, really, I'll take anything as long as it's eatable. And only if you have it with you, of course. I don't want to make you go get stuffs for me, I can wait to be home for that..."

"I'm going to get you something." Regina decided, looking very confident about this sudden statement.

"But, wait, the cafeteria isn't open at this hour of the night, and… Regina!" I called her back as, stubborn, she was disappearing behind the wooden door. "What's gotten into her?" I asked my family, not understanding why my friend was behaving in such a weird way.

"It's her own way of telling you she's sorry." Killian gently explained, looking straight into my eyes with a comforting smile.

"But… Sorry for what?" I questioned, utterly lost by this statement.

My father shared a concerned look with my mom, who was looking like she was about to start crying, and I didn't understand this expression on her face at all. I stared at them, suddenly deeply worried about what was going on, and my dad came to sit at the edge of my bed and took my free hand in his.

"We are all so sorry, Emma. Your mom, Regina and I, we should never have talked to you the way we did this morning. It was so unfair, and we're hating ourselves for it."

I suddenly understood the sentences I had heard while I was still half asleep. So, it was because of that, their serious faces and Regina's behavior, everything was making sense now. But I still didn't get why they were blaming themselves. Sure, we had gotten into an argument right before Zelena had taken me in hostage, but I had thought this was forgotten. After what had happened, I was just happy to have them near me, and I had thought it had been the same for them and we were okay about what they had told me earlier.

"But guys." I started, squeezing my dad's hand in mine. "I don't blame you, I swear. I know I got mad, but it's okay now. You were just nervous, I've forgiven you long ago..."

"If you had died and the last thing you had heard from us were blames, I would never have forgiven myself." My mom cut me off, her eyes flooded with unshed tears.

"I'm alive, okay?" I stated, hoping it would make them all feel better, because seeing them so sad was breaking my heart. "And I don't blame you, I promise. Stop torturing yourselves."

"We love you so much, Emma." My dad said in a somewhat shaky voice, wrapping his arms around me, joined by my mom only a few seconds later.

"I love you too." I whispered, moved by their words, before pulling away from them with a little smile, hoping that my words had helped them.

"You really scared me to death, mom, you know that?" Henry intervened, climbing on the bed to embrace me as well.

"I know kid, and I'm sorry about that. But everything's fine now, okay?" I said, carefully looking at him and trying hard not to start crying again.

I then turned back to look at Killian, and I met his shinning blue eyes. He was looking so relieved. I didn't say anything, but smiled at him and it looked like it made him feel a bit better. He placed his hand on my head again to resume gently stroking my hair. We stayed silentr for a few minutes, all lost in our thoughts and exhausted because of the last events. The door ended up opening again, and we all turned our heads to look at Regina, who walked into the room with her chin up.

"I tried to find peanuts, but there weren't any, so I hope this will be okay for you."

Without giving me the time to answer anything, she threw something in my direction. I caught it to discover it was a huge pack of M&M's, and raised my eyebrows in surprise. I then looked up to her and asked.

"Where the hell have you found these at this hours?"

"I made a quick stop at my place. I had some for Henry, and I know you really like peanuts. I know it's not the same, but..."

"Thank you so much, Regina." I said with a grateful smile, feeling my stomach rumbling at the idea I was going to eat very soon. "That's so sweet. You didn't have to do that..."

"It's not much." She shrugged. "I just made myself appear in my kitchen, it only took me a few seconds."

"Still, thank you." I insisted. "And… you don't have to feel guilty, understood?"

She seemed surprised at first by this sudden statement, but she ended up nodding with seriousness. She didn't answer anything so the conversation wouldn't take a too sentimental turn, and I smiled at her to thank her one last time. But I lost my smile quite quickly, and stayed quiet for a bit, frowning and troubled by my thoughts. I was nervously fiddling the pack of sweets in my hands, lost in my mind. I was wondering what had happened to Zelena. I hadn't had the time to ask Regina what she had done with the witch before going to the hospital, and I was now scared our enemy had managed to escape once again. Because if it was the case, I was in danger again. And I would certainly not be so lucky to survive a second time.

"Guys, I wanted to ask you..." I started with a little hesitation and with a somewhat shaky voice. "Zelena, where is..."

"She's back in her cell, underground." Regina cut me off, looking straight into my eyes and probably guessing I was still scared about what had happened to me. "I'm impressed, by the way, you've managed to knock her out real good while you were already hurt and exhausted. She woke up while you were at the ultrasound, and she made such a fuss about her situation when she realized where she was, but she's wearing a bracelet forbidding her from using her magic, and she can't go anywhere. She can't hurt you anymore."

I slowly nodded, relieved and feeling tears forming in my eyes. My family and my baby were safe, and I wasn't going to be in danger anytime soon. I had really thought it was over for me tonight, and I couldn't believe I had actually made it. I turned to look at Killian, pressing my lips together to hold back my tears. He gently smiled at me, probably guessing the state of emotion I was in, and cupped my cheek to comfort me.

"It's all right now, Swan. We will never let anyone hurt us again."

I forced myself to smile back at him and swallowed the lump that was obstructing my throat. I really didn't want to start crying again. I took a few seconds to pull myself together, and finally started talking in a still muffled voice.

"Have you talked with Harry, Ron and Hermione?"

"We have." My mom nodded. "We've told them you were safe and all right, and they were all deeply relieved. We've decided to send them back home tomorrow morning. Tonight wasn't a good time, we are all tired, and they wanted to say goodbye before leaving."

"How are Liam and Neal?"

"They are more than fine." My dad reassured me. "When we called the wizards, they were sleeping like two little angels."

"Liam wasn't panicking too much?" I asked in worry. "Seeing how it went the last time I've disappeared like that, I'm scared he's going to start being afraid when I leave him again..."

"Don't worry about that." Hook said, still in a very soft voice. "I took the time to explain him he had to go and sleep with Neal because we were busy. He got it. He's all right."

"Can we… go and see them when I'll be out of here?" I asked with a shy smile. "I really want to see Liam after what's happened. I know he's sleeping, but..."

"I know, darling, I get it." Hook answered, bringing my hand to his lips to press a little kiss on it. "If you feel good enough to go, we'll do it."

I nodded, thankful he was always so understanding with me, and it's Regina who started to talk again. She had regained her usual tone of voice, and it reassured me. It meant that she wasn't feeling guilty anymore, and that I was safe, for good.

"Well, are you eating these M&m's, yes or no? I haven't gotten home for nothing."

I smiled at her comment and obeyed, relieved about the last news and telling myself that, maybe, we would finally be able to live a normal life again.

* * *

Settled in the bed of our room, cuddled into Killian's arms, I was comforted by the touch of his skin against mine. I was sitting between his legs, my back glued to his chest, my head placed on his shoulder and my face buried into the crook of his neck. He had placed his hand on my stomach, and our fingers were woven together. With my right hand, I was holding his hook, which was placed against my thigh. His arms wrapped around me that way, I was feeling so safe, as if nothing could ever happen to me again. I was feeling so good, and I was slowly falling asleep without trying to fight against my exhaustion.

It was very late. We had gone to see the wizards after getting out of the hospital, and I had looked at my son peacefully sleeping for a few minutes, not believing how lucky I was to be alive and be able to watch him grow up. We had ended up going home, and it was now 4 in the morning. I was feeling so tired, but I hadn't managed to fall asleep, the anxiety rushing over me every time I was closing my eyes. Images from my day with Zelena were like engraved under my eyelids, and were panicking me so much my heart was starting to race every time I was trying to fall asleep. Killian had then asked me to come near him, and now that I was against him, I was feeling so loved and safe. Nothing was going to happen to me anymore, never again.

"I love you."

Killian's words woke me up completely. My first impulse was to gently tease him, but I understood it wasn't a good time. I then turned my head to look at him and answered in a low voice.

"I know. I love you too."

"I just wanted to tell you this because… I haven't had the time to answer you earlier, and I would never have forgiven myself if you had died without me telling you how much I love you one last time."

"I'm here." I whispered, stroking his hand with my thumb to reassure him. "I'm alive, and I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

"I was so scared I'd lost you both." He resumed, placing his head against my own. "You were in danger, and I couldn't do anything about it. I thought I was going crazy."

"I know, babe." I gently repeated. "I've been scared too."

"You won't scare us like that again, little one, will you?" He said to the baby, gently caressing my stomach with his palm.

Our child gave a huge kick to answer his father, and I burst out laughing. I turned my head to kiss Killian's chin, and he pulled me a little bit closer to his chest.

"I think it's agreeing with you."

Hook laughed as well, and let go of my hand to place his under the wide shirt I was wearing to sleep and gently press his fingers against my naked skin. He resumed his strokes, and I snuggled a little bit deeper into his arms, comforted by the touch of his hand against me.

"I'm just happy you are here." He whispered as I was finally falling asleep.

I smiled, my eyes still closed, and turned my head to bury my face back in his neck and breathe him.

* * *

"So, what way do you prefer to go home? A simple door? A tornado that risks to destroy then entire park on its way? Or a portal, knowing that there is a huge chance you'll end up falling on the ground of your home?" Regina asked, looking very serious, the apprentice's wand tightly squeezed into her hand.

"I think a door is perfect." Harry answered, laughing at her comment.

I turned to look at Killian with a smile. We were holding hands, a few feet away from the wizards, as we were finally able to send back home. I was very happy we had finally found a solution after all those months spent at trying to find something to allow them to go back to their families. Hook turned back as well, and our eyes met as we were sharing a look for a few seconds. He gently smiled at me, and let go of my hand to wrap his arm around my waist and pull me closer to him.

The afternoon had just started. After a good night of sleep, I was finally feeling safe again, aware that Zelena couldn't hurt me anymore now that she was in her cell. We had gone to find Liam in the morning, and after one last drink shared at Granny's all together, the wizards had been ready to go. Neal and my youngest son were playing together in the grass of Central Park, while Henry was standing near Killian and me. We hadn't had the courage to send the kids back to Ashley's after everything that had happened the day before, and they weren't risking anything by staying with us anyway.

"Very well, then." Regina said with half a smile, gesturing to make the wand work.

A huge and majestic door appeared in front of our eyes, and the kids immediately stopped playing to look at it, their eyes wide open in curiosity. I squatted to pull Liam closer to me and forbid him to run toward the door and cross realms, imitating my mom who was doing the same thing with Neal. I kissed Liam on the top of his head, but he didn't even seem to notice me, too obsessed by the mystery that was standing in front of him.

"I suppose it's time to say goodbye." Hermione wavered, looking deeply moved by the situation.

My father nodded with a slight smile, and, as the wizards were approaching us for one last thank you, I forced Liam to turn and face me. He looked at me, seeming very perplexed by everything that was happening, and I said to him in a serious tone.

"Look, baby, I know you want to know what's behind the door, so I'm going to tell you what it is: It's another world. And I know you want to go and see what it's like out there, but you have to stay here, understood?"

"Why?" He asked with a little pout that made me smile.

"Because it can be dangerous, and Daddy and I love you very, very much. We don't want anything to happen to you. Can you promise me you're not going to try and cross the door?"

"… promise." He said after a little hesitation.

"That's my boy." I whispered, kissing him on the forehead in a quiet thank you.

I got up, but left my hands on my son's shoulder because he was only two, and I was aware he could break his promise anytime. When I saw that wizards approaching me, I gestured to my mom to ask her to keep an eye on Liam. The wizards had already said goodbye to her, and she was holding Neal against her. She smiled at me, and gestured to my son so he was safe next to her.

I then completely turned my attention to the wizards to smile at them, trying to hide the fact I was myself pretty moved to see them leave us. They were in town for more than four months now, and despite a few little arguments, I was considering them as my friends. I then said goodbye to Harry, then Ron by briefly hugging them, but was a bit surprised when Hermione wrapped her arms around me to hold me close to her. I hadn't expected that to happen, and I needed a few seconds before hugging her back. She ended up pulling away after a little while, looking down as if she was about to start crying.

"Thanks, Emma. For everything you've done for us. You know, I was really scared, last night..."

"I'm fine." I assured her, my right hand placed on her shoulder. "I'm going to miss you, Hermione."

"You too, I..." She resumed with a little hesitation, and I tilted my head, curious to know what she was about to say. "I don't know if it means anything to you, but I just wanted to tell you you are a true Gryffindor."

"Thanks." I said, surprised by this revelation I hadn't expected to hear, but pretty flattered, because coming from the mouth of one of the most famous Gryffindor of all time, it was a huge compliment.

"Take care of you and the little one, okay?" She said, looking down at my stomach with a little smile. "And I wish you all the best for your wedding." She added, approaching Killian to embrace him as well. "I would have wanted to see what the celebration is going to be like, and I know we can now cross realms with the wands but… I'm not sure I'm ready to get away from home for a while, now."

"I know." I said with half a smile. "I understand. But we'll see each other again. In other circumstances, I don't know when, but these are not goodbyes."

"I really hope so." She said before embracing me one last time.

I then looked at them walking away from us, feeling tears forming in my eyes, and Killian wrapped his arm back around my waist, guessing I was pretty sad to say goodbye to our friends. After one last smile, they ended up crossing the door, and after a few seconds, they were gone. Regina waited a little bit to make sure everything was fine, then she lifted the wand up in the air to make the door disappear. The park went silent for a little while, as if we were paying respect to this period of our life that was closing. My mom was the one who started to talk again, and she offered with a smile :

"Who wants to go to Granny's?"

I nodded with a smile as Killian was pulling away from me. I looked at him squatting to take Liam, who was running toward him, in his arms. Both laughing, he lifted him up above his head before hugging him close, and I smiled at how adorable they looked.

I wrapped my arms around Henry's shoulder, who was sanding beside me, and was also looking at the scene with a smile on his face.

We could finally resume our normal life.

* * *

 **Here we go! The few chapters following this one are much calmer and much more fluffy. They are about the wedding and what follows, and I hope you're going to like them! See you Friday! :)**


	26. Chapter 26

**Thanks a lot to oncer4life11 and Araya for the reviews! Here's to a few calmer chapters, I hope you guys are going to like them!**

* * *

"Mommy! I wanna get out!" Liam cried out from the stroller he was settled in.

I glanced at Killian, who smiled at me with amusement, and let go of the stroller I was driving to approach my son. I squatted in front of him, one of my hand landing on his knee. I was blinded by the sun for a second, it was shinning so brightly in this beautiful August day and I closed my eyes to escape the light. It was reflecting everywhere, making the colors much more intense, and the clear blue sky was making Central park look like a real postcard.

"First of all, we don't say I wanna, but..." I started, raising my eyebrow at him, because Killian and I were trying to teach Liam how to be the most polite little boy he could be.

"I would like too, please." He recited, stuttering a little bit on the "would" with a little pout.

"Very good. Now, you can go and run around for a while, but only if you promise me not to go too far and not go near the lake. Understood?"

"Yeah!" He assured, wriggling on his seat.

I laughed seeing his enthusiasm, and detached the safety belt that was keeping him prisoner. Finally freed, he jumped on the floor and started running through the long grass, giggling in pleasure. I got up, looking at him to make sure he wasn't going to get in any trouble, and walked to join Killian. He immediately wrapped his arm around my waist to pull me closer to him, and I placed my head on his shoulder, letting go of a sight of pleasure when his lips brushed against my temple.

The two weeks following Zelena's defeat had been so calm I sometimes had the feeling I was living in a dream. Since the wizards had gone home and Zelena was prisoner in her cell, life had resumed its usual way in Storybrooke. I had finally been able to enjoy some quiet moment beside my family, without this danger awaiting for us out there. In this town, even being able to share a meal at Granny's without being interrupted was a big deal, and I had to admit these past few weeks had just been simply perfect.

I however had to admit things were a bit hard because of the pregnancy, sometimes. I couldn't sleep well because of the baby, who seemed to be always kicking, never getting a single minute of rest. I was sometimes wondering if I was expecting a future ninja, and the heat wave that was even stronger than ever wasn't helping. But I hadn't thought about protesting once about my lack of sleep nor the temperature which was yellowing the grass and making the birds sing in the trees. The baby was okay, I was alive, my sons were looking happier than ever, I was part of a united family, and the love I had for Killian was still growing every day. I had absolutely everything to be happy.

"You okay?" Hook suddenly asked, probably triggered by my unusual silence.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I answered with a little smile. "I was just thinking."

"You would tell me if you needed anything, right?"

"Killian!" I cried out, rolling my eyes, annoyed by his worried tone while I had just been lost in my thoughts, nothing else. "I'm great, I swear! Stop worrying for nothing, for god's sake, I'm not dying!"

"Okay! Don't get mad, it was a simple question!" He defended himself, looking outraged because of my virulent reaction.

"I'm not getting mad." I answered, shaking my head and taking his hand to drive him to the nearest bench. "I'm just making you understand everything's fine for me, and you don't have to worry. It's just the thousandth time today we're having the same conversation, it's not a big deal, I'm starting to get used to it." I scoffed with half a smile to soften my words.

He shook his head, looking quite amused by my teasing, and I drove right back into my thoughts, playing with the border of my blue tunic with a focused frown. Since what had happened with Zelena, Killian, who had made so much effort to try not to overprotect me at the beginning of the pregnancy, was falling right back into his old routines. Despite my annoyed replies, for the very first time, his behavior wasn't making me that mad, because I was getting his reactions. He had almost lost the baby and me, and it was perfectly normal he was making sure everything was fine for us. But I didn't want him to make a habit out of this, and my mockeries were there to make him understand I would have preferred him to leave me be a little bit, even if I was always staying nice because he was so sweet with me all the time.

"I can't believe the wedding is in two weeks already" He resumed, changing the subject to answer my wish, as always when I was asking him to stop worrying for nothing, and that made me smile.

"You know what I can't believe? That my parents have insisted to take everything in charge." I replied with a little pout.

"Look at the bright side." He laughed at my reaction. "At least we don't have to do anything, everything is coming to us just like that."

"Yeah, sure, that's nice, but we can say goodbye to the little wedding we were thinking about." I sighted. "My mom absolutely wants me, and I'm using her words, to have a _princess' wedding._ "

"Come on, stop moaning about it!" He said, gently poking my shoulder with a mischievous smile, and I lost my annoyed look to giggle. "You know it's because your parents love you that they're doing this. And you're going to be even more gorgeous than usual. I'm sure your mother have insisted for you to wear a beautiful dress."

I hadn't told him about the conversation my mom and I'd had all those weeks ago, during which she had offered me to wear a replica of her wedding dress. I had decided I wanted to make him a surprise, and I was very eager to see his reaction when he would discover this idea. I then tried to hide my smile the best I could and answered, glancing at my watch :

"Yeah, I'll have to go soon, by the way. Regina is going to bitch again if I'm late."

It had indeed been decided that the fitting of the dress would take place this afternoon, in my parents' loft, with my mom and Regina. We had talked about it, and had thought that in only two weeks, my stomach was probably not going to grow that much, and the dress would still fit me for the wedding. At the worst, there would be some adjustments to make before the big day. I knew that my mom was overexcited because of this fitting, she had called me several times during the week to remind me of it, and I had to admit her joy had more of less infected me, even if I was trying to hide it.

"Are you sure I can't go with you?" Hook asked, pouting to try and coax me, and I rolled my eyes, trying to hide my smile. "I'll be very discreet, you won't even notice I'm there."

"It's not a question of knowing you're there, we've already talked about this." I said, glancing at him in a falsely annoyed way. "I want it to be a surprise. And you know it's bad luck to see the bride in her dress before the big day."

"Really? Seriously, Swan, after everything we've been through, do you really think something worse could happen?" He relevantly stated, one of his eyebrow raised.

"This is not negotiable." I laughed despite my try to stay serious, unable to find a better reply because his behavior was way too funny.

He pouted again in a disappointed way, and because I didn't know if he was messing with me or not, I leaned forward to kiss his lips and erase his sad look. He regained his smile quite quickly and kissed me back, his hand making its way against my stomach. I sighted in pleasure and placed my head against his shoulder as he was wrapping his left arm around my waist. I glanced at Liam, who was still running in the grass, and I had a small smile seeing that he was looking like he was having a great time. At the exact same moment I was telling myself he was definitely adorable, I saw him tripping on his own foot, and he fell on the ground. I froze, not really knowing if I had to rush over him or not, because I was aware that my panic would make him cry even if he didn't have anything. I felt Killian stiffening as well beside me, and we waited to see our son's reaction before doing anything, both holding our breath in nervousness.

But two seconds later, our little boy started to sob anyway, and I glanced at Killian in a worried way before rushing to take my son into my arms. I quickly looked at him to make sure he was all right : he didn't seem to have any bruises, and seemed more touched in his ego than physically hurt. I lifted him up, still trying to comfort him, and sat back down on the bench next to Killian, gently stroking Liam's back :

"It's okay, baby, it's nothing."

"It hurts." He whined, his face buried into the crook of my neck.

"Where does it hurt, little mate?" Killian gently asked, pressing a kiss on the top of his head.

In a very serious way, Liam pulled away from me to show us his forefinger with a deeply painful wince. I pressed my lips together to try not to start laughing, but I found it even harder to stay serious when I looked at Killian, who seemed at the edge of bursting out laughing.

"It seems really serious indeed." Hook then stated, pretending to look at Liam's finger while trying to stay calm. "But don't worry. Mommy has magical powers, she can heal you."

"That's right." I nodded while Liam was looking at us, his eyes widened in curiosity. "Look, you'll see."

I gently grabbed his hand and kissed the finger he was showing me, the one that was so-called painful. I then turned back to him, looking perfectly serious, as if I had really used my magic on him, and he cried out in excitement :

"Wow, it's healed! You're strong, mommy!"

"Do you want to go back and play?" I asked, laughing at his reaction.

He nodded, all his joy back, and I put him back on the ground as he was running toward the nearest tree as if nothing had happened. I giggled, seeing him bouncing up and down, telling myself that we were so lucky to raise such adorable children.

"I fear the moment when comforting him will be harder." Killian said with one of his eyebrow raised.

I looked at him with a smile and opened my mouth to answer that this method wouldn't last forever indeed. But I absent-mindlessly glanced at my watch in the process, and shouted without being able to hold back a swearword :

"I have to go, I'm going to be late!"

"Wait!" He called me back, grabbing my wrist as I was jumping off the bench to try and catch up on the time I had lost.

"What?" I asked, surprised, turning back to face him.

He didn't answer to my questioning look, but gently let go of my wrist. He wrapped his left arm around my waist, and placed his hand on my stomach. Gently stroking my bump with his thumb, he leaned to press a kiss on it and whisper to the baby :

"See you later, little one."

It kicked back, as always when its dad was talking to it. Killian was speaking to my stomach so often that the baby was now recognizing his voice every time, and was moving as if it wanted to answer to what Hook was saying. Killian giggled, his face lightening up as always when he was feeling is child. I gently ran my fingers through his hair, tenderized by his look, and he pulled me even closer to him to press a quick kiss on my lips.

"Be careful on your way there, okay?"

"You know me." I replied with a wink that made him smile.

And then, after glancing at him one last time, I waved at Liam, but he didn't answer me, too focused on running after a thing he was the only one to see. A slight smile on my face, I walked quickly toward my parents' loft, wondering what was awaiting for me at this fitting my mom was so excited about.

* * *

I was climbing up the stairs the faster possible to reach my parents' loft, and knocked three times on the door before entering without waiting for an answer. The living room was enlightened by a bright light coming from the windows, all open to bring a little bit of wind into the stifling heat of the apartment. My mom and Regina were sitting on the sofa, drinking iced tea. As soon as she saw me, my friend opened her mouth, probably to start moaning about my delay, but I cut her off before she could say anything :

"Stop right now, I know I'm approximately..." I glanced at my watch to illustrate my words. "Seven minutes late, and I'm sorry about it. Can we talk about something else now that this has been said?"

My friend didn't add anything, looking a bit surprised by my statement, and I glanced at her in amusement before walking toward my mom to embrace her. I then turned back to Regina, who was staring at me, her arms crossed over her chest and looking a bit annoyed, and I tried not to start laughing because her outraged look was way too funny in my opinion :

"Well, can we start, now?"

"And what about me? Not saying hello is very rude, mom."

I startled and turned my head to look at Henry, who was standing in one of the corner of the apartment, his arms crossed, a smirk on his face as he was looking pretty proud of his surprise effect. I hadn't seen him when I had walked into the loft, as I had immediately looked at my mom without paying attention to what was around me. In addition to that, he was more or less hiding in the shadow, and he wasn't supposed to be there. I then said with a smile, approaching him to briefly hug him.

"What the hell are you doing here, kid? I didn't know you liked wedding dresses." I gently scoffed as he was throwing me a blank stare because of my comment.

"I was just curious to see you in your dress before the big day." He shrugged. "And no, I'm not interested in fashion, believe me. I have a book with me, I'll just go upstairs while you're doing whatever future brides do. I just wanna see the result."

"Well, at least it's clear." I laughed, seeing how confident he was looking.

"I'll leave you girls to it." He added, heading for the stairs. "Have fun!"

I gave him a falsely annoyed look in answer, and I heard him giggle from upstairs. Sure, I was obviously really happy to get married to the man I loved, and this prospect of the big and beautiful ceremony that was awaiting for us was rejoicing me, but fashion had never really been my strong suit. I was way better at fighting against monsters than at staying still to put on clothes, and shopping had always been a real ordeal for me. I was just hoping these fittings were not going to last for ages. I knew Henry was aware of my opinion about the subject, and he was then taking a great pleasure at kindly teasing me about it.

I looked at him disappearing upstairs, and turned back to look at my mom, who was frowning in a concerned way. I raised my eyebrows, wondering why she was looking so worried while I was sure I was going to love her dress. To ease her a little bit, I started talking in a cheerful tone :

"So, are you going to show me this dress or do I have to guess what it looks like?"

"It's behind the screen" My mom explained, gesturing to the big item she had put in a corner of the living room to allow me to have a bit of privacy. "But remember, Emma, it's not exactly the same as the one I've worn, and..."

"Relax!" I cried out, walking toward her to place my hand on her shoulder and comfort her. "I'm sure I'm going to love it. But I can't tell you this if you don't show it to me."

She nodded and weakly smiled at me before yielding so I could walk behind the screen. I glanced at her with amusement, seeing her so worried for something not that important, and stared at her for a few seconds. Because of that, I only saw the dress at the very last moment.

I stopped right away and my smile disappeared without even me thinking about it. My eyes widened as I was detailing the dress, that was worn by a mannequin so I could see what it was looking like on someone. And it wasn't what I had imagined it to be at all. The be honest, it was beyond anything I could have hoped for.

I had seen it on drawings in Henry's book, but it was a hundred times prettier in real life. With the feather hanging at the skirt, we could have thought it was the property of an angel. It was looking like it was radiating a gentle light, an aura of purity, and it was absolutely breathtaking. I would never have imagined that an outfit could actually provoke this kind of wonder. Without saying anything, staring at the dress in awe, I reached for it to touch it : it was silky smooth.

"Why are you looking like that?" My mom worried, making me startle as if I was coming out of a trance. "You don't like it? Oh god, I knew I should never have offered you this..."

"No." I said, turning to look at her and shaking my head to clear my mind up. "No, it's gorgeous."

"Seriously?" She asked, looking deeply relieved, and I smiled, still a bit unsettled. "It isn't exactly the same as it was before, we have pulled the middle up so you could be more comfortable." She added, gesturing to show me the skirt that, instead of starting at my waist, was beginning just under my breast.

"Thank you so much, mom." I whispered, as Regina was joining us, her hands on her hips.

"Don't you find it quite funny you have to wear a white dress representing the virginity while you are actually pregnant?" She said really seriously, probably to break the emotion that was crackling in the air.

"Wow." I answered, rolling my eyes. "Subtlety isn't your thing, is it?"

She raised an eyebrow has an answer, looking pretty proud of her joke. It had worked, actually, because the surprise gone, I had finally come back to reality, and my mom was looking much better. I shook my head with a smile I wasn't managing to hide, and glanced back at the dress to look at it a little bit longer.

"So, are you going to put it on?" My friend ended up saying after a few seconds of silence. "We haven't done all this work for nothing."

I nodded to thank her, knowing all too well we would both feel uncomfortable if I was starting a speech supposed to represent my gratefulness. Neither of us were really good at words, and this look was meaning everything to us. She just smiled to answer me, and dragged my mom, who seemed so happy about my reaction, behind her to give me some privacy.

* * *

"Mom!" I shouted in impatience. "You can't stop me from seeing the result for hours, you know that, right?"

"Just let me finish this." She replied, putting a clip in my hair.

"You're saying this for fifteen minutes!" I mumbled, rolling my eyes.

"Be patient, for god's sake!" Regina got annoyed, shaking her head.

I didn't answer anything and looked down at the dress, smoothing the skirt with my palm. After twenty minutes spent at adjusting the dress, I was already starting to get a bit impatient, but my mom hadn't wanted me to see the result without doing my hair before. I was now sitting on the chair for half an hour while she was doing god knows what, and it was driving me crazy to be forced to stay still for so long. She had wanted to do it herself and had categorically refused Regina's offer to use her magic, as she had done with the dress' adjustments. It would have been so much faster if Regina had used her powers, and I let go of a little sight. All of this wasn't my thing at all. If I had enjoyed playing princess for the first five minutes, I hadn't stayed happy for too long. I nervously started to bite my thumb's nail, forcing myself to stay still as the baby was kicking, as if it was getting impatient as well.

"Here we go." My mom finally stated after a few minutes of silence. "I think we're good."

I jumped off my seat to stop her from changing her mind, and she made me turn, squeezing both my hands in hers. Her smile made me come around as I was about to tease her on the time she had taken to make me ready. She was looking so happy, and I didn't want to break this moment. She didn't say anything, but I could see her eyes starting to sparkle when she looked at me, and I asked a bit anxiously :

"So? What do you think?"

"Go see by yourself." Regina answered, gesturing to the big mirror hanging in my parents' room.

I obeyed, but avoided my reflection until the very last second. If I had been impatient to finally see the result a few minutes earlier, I was suddenly scared of what I was looking like : all of this, it wasn't me. I was much more comfortable in my jeans than in a fairy tale dress, and I didn't know if all of this had been a good idea. Maybe we should have gone to the town well to get married without paying attention to the tradition. But I knew deep down that my parents wouldn't have let me do such a thing. And my mom had finally found an occasion to play her mother part, to treat me as a princess for a few hours, and I couldn't take that away from her. She was looking so happy… I then took a deep breath to give me some strength, and finally turned my eyes toward the glass, telling myself the result couldn't be that bad.

I needed a few seconds to convince myself that the young woman standing in front of me wasn't a stranger. I was metamorphosed. The dress had been perfectly adjusted, and I turned on my side to realize my stomach was barely noticeable through the skirt. My hair was tied into a bun that was recalling the one I was wearing for my very first ball, which I had spent next to Killian. On top of that, a ray of sunshine had just crossed the room and had hooked on my hair, giving them an almost white color that was connecting to the purity of the dress. I was looking like…

"A princess." My mom said, answering my thoughts.

Without waiting for an answer, she walked behind my back and attached a silver necklace around my neck. I reached for the jewelry, that was shinning like a diamond, and turned back to look at her, surprised by this unexpected gift.

"It was my mom's." She explained with a little smile. "She gave it to me when I was a little girl, and I've worn it at my wedding. It's your turn, now."

"How is that possible?" I asked, wondering why the necklace wasn't in the Enchanted Forest anymore.

"It was in Gold's shop. Belle has been more than happy to give it back."

"Thanks." I whispered, looking down at the necklace, moved and feeling tears forming in my eyes. "It's beautiful."

"You're the one who's stunning, honey." My mom answered with a kind smile.

"I think we can call Henry, now, don't you think?" Regina offered, before doing so when I had nodded and had swallowed the lump that was obstructing my throat.

My son walked into the room less than a minute later, and I turned to look at him with a bit of dread. I knew he was going to give his honest opinion and, even if I was finding all of this absolutely stunning, I was still convinced it wasn't me. I looked straight into Henry's eyes to quietly ask for a sincere opinion on my outfit. He stayed silent for a minute, staring at me, and I ended up asking, impatient to finally know :

"So? Be honest."

"Wow." He simply answered, slowly nodding.

"Really?"

"You look like a princess." He said, looking up to me with a smile.

"So, is it approved, then?" Regina asked, placing her hand on Henry's shoulder.

"Yeah. And if I'm sure of one thing, it's that Killian is going to like it _a lot_ as well."

I glanced at him in a falsely annoyed way because of his innuendo, but couldn't help but smile as well. I knew he had said that only to relax me, and his teasing had worked, because I was now feeling much better. He approached me, his mocking look disappearing from his face, and kindly confessed :

"This is going to be such a beautiful wedding. I'm so happy to be the best man, you know. Everything is going to be perfect. You deserve it."

I felt tears forming in my eyes again, touched by his words, but also by how fast he had grown up. He was a young man now, almost an adult, and he was so caring, kind, funny, he always had the right words to comfort the people he loved. He hadn't had an easy childhood, I knew he had suffered because of the fact I had given him up for adoption. But my son had had the strength not to build himself an armor, as I had done when I was his age. I was so proud of him, and Liam couldn't have dreamed of a better role model.

Guessing I didn't really know what to answer, he started talking again with half a smile on his face :

"It's crazy, you don't even look like you're pregnant."

"I know." I said, turning on my side again and placing a hand on my stomach, myself surprised by the way the skirt was hiding my bump. "Maybe in two weeks it'll be a bit noticeable. I want Peanut to be part of the party too."

I turned back to my family, and my son smiled at me in response. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a tight embrace, while I was rubbing his back. As he was in my arms, I whispered in his ear :

"I'm so proud of you, kid."

He still didn't answer, but I saw at his shinning eyes my words had touched him when he pulled away from me. I then wrapped my left arm around his shoulder to keep him close to me, and looked at my mom and Regina to say with a somewhat shy smile :

"I really don't know how to thank you for all of this, so I'm just going to say I love the dress, and..."

"You don't have to say anything." Regina cut me off with a little smile. "It was a pleasure."

I smiled again and glanced one last time at my reflection in the mirror, saying to myself that, a few years earlier, I would never have thought I would find myself in this position, bride to be, pregnant for the third time. Happiness was finally attainable after all these years, and I felt a little pinch in my chest at this thought. I was finally allowed to be happy.

* * *

"Killian! I'm home!" I cried out to indicate my presence before closing the front door behind my back.

"In the living room!" he said back.

I quickly walked into the room to find Killian and Liam, sitting on the floor and sharing a game. I smiled, seeing them so close was always making me so happy, and they both turned at the same time when they heard me coming in.

"Mommy!" Liam giggled, getting on his feet to throw himself into my arms.

I squatted to take him against me as he was still laughing, his little arms wrapped around my neck. I hugged him for a few seconds before getting up, Liam still in my arms

"How are you, sweetheart? Did you have fun with daddy?"

"Yeah!" He enthusiastically said, and that made me laugh.

Hook got up as well, and approached us with a smile. He leaned forward to press a quick peck on my lips and greet me, and fluffed Liam's hair on his way. I smiled back at him and started talking as I was settling on the couch :

"You look like you've spent a pretty good afternoon."

"As always." he said, sitting down next to me on the sofa. "What about you? How did it go?"

"Good." I answered, staying purposely elusive.

"Good?" He repeated, looking outraged, and that made me giggle. "Is that all that you're going to say?"

"I've already told you, I want it to be a surprise." I replied, amused by his impatience. "And don't be too sad, you won't have to wait for much longer before seeing the result"

"That's right, it's going to go fast, now." He smiled, looking very happy "It's going to be a beautiful day, isn't it, Liam?"

"Yeah!" My son shouted once again, moving to cuddled between the both of us.

I laughed and shared a look with Killian, who seemed as happy as I was. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders to pull me closer to him, pressing a kiss on my temple, as Liam was giggling, happy to feel us so close to him. There were no more problems in Storybrooke. All was well.

* * *

 **Okay, in the next chapter, Snow has a little (big) surprise for our Savior! I hope you liked this chapter and see you Monday! :)**


	27. Chapter 27

**Thanks to oncer4life11, Emilee Amethyst and Araya for the reviews!**

* * *

"Are you sure you don't mind me going?"

"For the thousandth time, Killian, I'm fine!" I cried out, rolling my eyes in annoyance because of so much caring. "You have the right to go and have some fun, and beside, it's a special occasion. I promise you nothing is going to happen to me while you're gone. I can still take of myself, thank you very much!"

"But I don't want to leave you all alone here with Liam." He protested, looking very worried, without even paying attention to the vehement tone I had used to talk to him.

"You know my mom and Regina are coming as well." I sighted, realizing he was worrying for real and getting mad wasn't going to solve anything. "I won't be alone. I swear I'm going to survive this."

He glanced at me from the corner of his eyes, still frowning and not looking convinced at all. He was looking like he was fighting against contradictory feelings, as if leaving me for a couple of hours was an insurmountable ordeal. Since what had happened with Zelena a little less than a month ago, he was only leaving me when he was absolutely forced to, as if he was scared I was going to disappear if he was looking away from me for a couple of seconds. But I knew he didn't have any reason to worry : everything was more than fine in Storybrooke. I was safe. I then pouted at him, which made him smile a little bit, and resumed to try and convince him completely :

"My dad and Robin are so happy about this evening, and you know it. You can't let them down at the last minute!"

He was looking very focused, and I guessed he was intensely thinking about my words. I couldn't help myself but laugh at how adorable he was looking. We were both sitting on the living room couch, one of my leg underneath me so I could look at him more easily, and I was trying to convince him to go to the party my dad and Robin had planned for so long, but he didn't seem ready to listen to me. I was taking this evening as a bachelor party, even if I knew they would probably only go for a drink at the Rabbit's Hole. With my dad, Killian had to be careful if he didn't want to hear a speech about how he had to be good for me for the umpteenth times. But Killian was unwilling to go and leave me at home while he was out, having fun. For as far as I was concerned, it wasn't bothering me at all. He had the right to go out with the boys. But he was seeing this as unfair, because as I was pregnant, I couldn't myself go out there and drink my life away.

"Killian." I added more gently, aware that I was using the wrong tone to make him understand everything was all right for me. "Seriously, go. I want you to. I really want you to spend the night with your friends. You don't have to worry about me, I swear, everything is going to be okay. And if it can make you feel better, I promise to call you if I feel like the slightest thing is wrong. So, what do you think?"

"Well, okay then." He surrendered after one last wavering. "You won. But I promise you I won't be back late. I really don't want to stay away from you for more than I have to."

"You come home whenever you want, babe, as long as you don't get here completely drunk." I laughed, even if I was a bit touched by his declaration, telling myself that he was definitely very good for big romantic speeches.

"With your dad, there are no risks." He stated, raising an eyebrow at me.

I giggled once again, amused by his words. It was true that, even if the two men were now getting along more than well and that someone from the outside would have called them friends without hesitation, my dad sometimes had these sorts of paternal impulses that were pushing him to give a so called threatening speech to his future son-in-law. It was actually making us laugh a lot, Killian and I, because we knew David was aware that Hook would never hurt me purposely, and he was liking him too much for his words to have a real impact. I then looked at Killian while shaking my head, but quite quickly regained seriousness and ran my hand down his arm to say in a low voice :

"Go and have some fun, okay? And don't worry about me, I just want you to spend a good night out."

He opened his mouth, as if he was still hesitating a little bit, and I decided to take control over the situation before he could change his mind. Without giving him the time to answer me, I leaned forward for a kiss that lasted for a few seconds, as his hand was starting to gently run through my hair and I was finally feeling him relaxing against me.

"If it's asked so nicely." He answered once I had pulled away from him.

I laughed once again, and he kept his arm around my waist to pull me closer to him and extend our embrace. Liam, who was quietly playing with his Lego block on the floor in front of us, suddenly got up to rush toward me. I took him on my lap, and he screamed in excitement.

"I want a kiss too!"

I smiled, tenderized by this unexpected demand, and answered him by kissing him all over his face, what made him burst out laughing. He freed himself from my grip to flee into his father's arms and escape my attack, and I giggled as well, snuggling into Killian's arms, who was looking quite amused by the scene he was witnessing.

"You'll have to be a good boy tonight, little mate." He gently resumed. "You're going to stay with mommy, grandma, Regina and your friends."

"Yeah, and you're going to go to bed very early." I added to tease him, knowing all too well he was going to react to this.

"No, I'm not tired!" He vehemently protested.

"But you have to feel good for the wedding, it's in three days!" I replied with a big smile on my face. "It's going to be a beautiful party, but you'll be very tired afterward."

"No!" He said once again with the snotty look he was taking when he wanted to seem older than he actually was.

"No?" I repeated, laughing, surprised by this answer.

Before I could add something, the doorbell rang into the house, announcing my parents' arrival. I glanced at Killian and stopped him as he was moving to get up, not wanting to break the hug he was sharing with Liam.

"Stay here, I'll go."

I got off the couch before he could protest, and pressed a quick kiss on his cheek to stop him from trying to hold me back. I could already imagine him saying that I was supposed to rest as I was pregnant. Laughing as he was looking too touched by my tender gesture to react right away, I quickly walked toward the front door and greeted the guest with a big smile, stepping away so they could come in.

"Emma!" My little brother immediately yelled when he saw me, wriggling in my dad's arms.

As soon as he got on the floor, he rushed toward me and grabbed my leg with a big grin. Giggling at his reaction, I told my friends to go into the living room and knelt in front of Neal. As always since the baby had started to move, he placed both his hands against my stomach, waiting with a focused wince for his little nephew or niece to kick. After a minute, seeing that nothing was happening, I gently said so he wouldn't be too disappointed.

"Maybe it's tired right now, you know..."

I barely had the time to finish my sentence that, as if it was trying to prove me wrong, I felt a kick in my lower stomach. I sighted, telling myself that this kid was definitely never listening to me. I was perhaps carrying it inside of me, but it was only when Killian was talking to it that it was actually calming down, during those nights it was forbidding me to fall sleep because of its kicks. The only thing that seemed to ease it was hearing its dad telling stories about the sea and treasures, as Killian's voice was rocking me as well and I was finally finding the sleep that was escaping me. But this baby definitely already seemed as stubborn as its parents, and I was wondering how it was going to be like when it would be born. My baby brother cried out, looking overexcited and driving me away from my thoughts :

"It moved!"

"Yeah, it did." I laughed. "It's kicking a lot, you know. Sometimes it even stop me from falling asleep."

"Really?" He asked, his eyes widened in surprise. "And you don't get mad? Mommy isn't happy at all when I don't let her sleep!"

"Peanut is still too young to know that." I patiently explained. "And I like feeling it move. It means it's all right and healthy, you know?"

"When could I see it?"

"You need to wait a little bit longer for that, sweetie." I answered with a smile.

My brother let go of a little frustrated sight, and that made me giggle. He was definitely so adorable, and it was hard to keep a straight face seeing his disenchanted expression. I put my finger under his chin to lift it up, and said to help him regain his smile :

"But the wedding is in three days! You're excited about it, aren't you?"

"Oh, yeah!" he cried out. "Mommy said you look like a princess in your dress!"

I smiled at him and opened my mouth to answer him I was finding this comment adorable, but my dad's voice rang from the living room, interrupting our little moment :

"What are you both still doing there?"

"We're coming!" I answered, before getting on my feet, winking at my brother while getting up.

He offered me a huge smile and turned back to hop toward the living room and join our family. I followed him, amused by his good mood, and walked into the overcrowded room. Robyn, Roland and Liam were already sitting on the floor and playing together, and Neal joined them with a cry of joy. I sat back down next to Killian to face my family, that was settled on the couches placed in the room.

"So, what's planned for tonight?" My mom asked with curiosity.

"Oh, you know, not much." My dad answered in a falsely innocent way that alerted me a bit. "We're just going out for a drink, you know what it is… what about you?"

"Nothing much either, you know, we have to watch the kids..." She replied with the same mysterious tone her husband had used.

"Okay." I started, puzzled by their strange behavior. "There is something you're not telling me."

"Not at all!" My mom defended herself in a high-pitched voice, and I gave her a skeptic look.

"Don't forget I know when people are lying to me..." I said, raising an eyebrow at her in a falsely annoyed way.

"Yeah, right." Henry intervened, helping my parents and that made me think he had also something to do with whatever was going on. "We should go, don't you think?"

"Very well." I said, my lips pressed together as my dad and Robin were getting up, obeying to my son. "You take it that way. It's good for now, but don't think you'll get out of this that easily."

My dad laughed as an answer, and that made me even more perplexed than I already was. I looked at Killian, who didn't seem to know what was happening either, but he shrugged and got off the couch to follow my dad, Robin and Henry. I imitated them to escort them out, as they had already started a lively conversation. Hook leaned forward for a gentle kiss to say goodbye, as always when we were leaving each other, and placed his hand on my stomach for a tender stroke.

"Be safe, okay?" I said, my hand running up and down his spine.

He nodded and smiled at me, leaning one last time to press a kiss on my forehead. He then pulled away from me to follow the others, who were already almost out of our yard.

"Be good, guys!" I said as they were walking away in the darkness.

Only the wind gusts answered me.

* * *

"Good night, baby." I whispered, pressing a kiss on my son's forehead after hugging Neal, who was sleeping in his nephew's bedroom for the night. "Sweet dreams, you two."

"And no mischief, understood?" My mom added to my brother, who nodded to show he was getting her request and looking a bit sheepish seeing my mom's bossy look.

I smiled at them and winked one last time before turning off the light, and the space got only enlightened by the little pilot light laying in a corner of the room. I left the door half-opened to be able to hear them in case there would be a problem, and followed my mom to go downstairs. Regina got out of the spare room in which she had rocked Roland and Robyn, and we walked down the stairs without saying a words in order not to bother the kids.

"Very well" my mom started, glancing at her watch once we were arrived in the living room. "I think it's time."

"Huh?" I answered without understanding anything, even more destabilized by Regina's reaction, who nodded as if what my mom had just said was perfectly logical.

"Now that the kids are in bed, we should go." She added without answering my question.

"What the hell are you talking about? Going where?" I asked, wondering what in the damn hell was happening to her and if she was running a fever of some sort to act that way.

She glanced at Regina with an amused smile, as if she was finding this entire situation really funny. I raised an eyebrow at her, more and more intrigued by her strange behavior. I had guessed that she was engineering something earlier, and her overexcited look was worrying me a little bit. Before I could ask for more precision, she turned back to me and stated :

"I have a surprise for you."

"A surprise?" I repeated, shaking my head in disbelief with a little wince, asking myself what she could have in mind again. "What kind of surprise?"

"Do you want me to remind you of the definition of this word?" Regina jeered, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "If we tell you what this is about, it's messing the entire concept up."

"To know what's going on, you'll have to come with me." My mom resumed, grabbing my wrist to take me with her.

"But… Huh… And what about the kids?" I stuttered, utterly disoriented, trying to free myself from her grip but it was looking like her playfulness was heightening her strength.

"I'm staying here." Regina explained. "If there is the slightest issue, I promise you I'll call you right away."

"But..." I started, not knowing if I was liking the twist this evening was taking.

"No, don't you dare discuss." My mom cut me off, forcing me to put on a sweater in order not to get cold. "Stop this right now, and come with me."

I raised an eyebrow, surprised because of this bossy impulse, as it wasn't like her. Getting advantage of my stupor, she tightened her grip around my wrist and I let her take me outside without understanding anything about what was happening.

* * *

"Damn, mom, are we there yet?" I moaned, shuffling behind my mother, who was still looking overexcited.

"We're almost there, the surprise is in the loft." She informed me, starting to walk even faster than she already was.

"And we couldn't get the car to come here?" I asked, keeping the same pace to force her to slow down a bit.

"Stop moaning." She said with an amused smile. "And be patient."

"Where is it coming from, this idea of making me a surprise, anyway?" I asked, suddenly curious to know more about what was going on.

"It's your wedding, honey. It's normal for me to offer you presents."

"But you've already given me the dress!" I started, before she stopped all at once to cut me off, and, surprised, I almost ran into her.

"Because you thought I was going to stop there?" She asked, looking genuinely surprised by my statement. "Baby, I have 28 years of gifts to catch up, I'm not going to deprive myself."

"I…" I started, touched by these words I hadn't expected to hear. "Thanks, mom. I really like the fact you want to make me happy. But I don't want you to feel forced to do anything. You don't owe me anything, you didn't need to do all of this..."

"Emma, you're my daughter, of course I needed to do this. Now, stop protesting and come with me." she ordered.

I didn't even think about protesting again and started walking at a faster pace. I had never imagined this night could take this twist, and I was feeling a bit perplexed. My mom was acting like she wanted to fill these 28 years we hadn't spent together, and I didn't really know what to think about her behavior. I didn't want her to feel forced to offer me stuffs, I was happy enough to finally have my parents by my side, but she was looking sincerely happy to do this kind of things. I then kept quiet, getting in her words than spoiling me was making her feel better about herself, and after a few more minutes of walking in silence, we arrived in front of her building. She rushed into the stairs, as if she wanted to go ahead of me. She then gave me a strange look I wasn't able to decode before opening the loft's door, and she announced in a clear voice, thing that made me frown :

"We're here."

That meant her surprise was actually a person, and I was feeling so lost I didn't know what to do anymore. Who the hell could she have brought here? Still frowning, I walked into the apartment to finally discover what my mom was hiding from me, and was greeted by a blond head, who literally jumped into my arms to pull me into a tight embrace.

"Emma! I'm so, so happy to see you again!"

I stayed quiet and still for a few seconds, confused, before freeing myself from the embrace to look more carefully at this stranger who had run toward me. I had thought I had recognized this voice, but I needed to make sure of it. It couldn't be real, it was too good to be true...

"El… Elsa?" I stuttered once my eyes met my friend's gaze, and I was sure I wasn't dreaming. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Well, let's say that I've learned you're getting married, and I didn't want to miss that." She said with a huge smile on her face, her hands still in mine, and I turned back to look at my mom, my lips parted without understanding how my friend had arrived here.

"Now that we have the apprentice's wand, traveling between realms is child's play." My mom explained, as she was looking pretty proud of her idea. "I told myself it was a good idea for your friend to be at your wedding."

I felt a huge smile spreading on my face without being able to control myself. I couldn't believe it. Of course, I had friends in Storybrooke. But no one aside from Killian was getting me like Elsa did. She had helped me so much when I was scared of myself, and I probably wouldn't have been where I was at this exact moment without her. The last time I had seen her was three years ago, while I was pregnant with Liam, and I had missed her so much. So, happy beyond words to see her, I broke the distance between us to wrap my arms around her.

"God, Elsa, I'm so glad you're here! You have no idea how much it means to me..."

She giggled at my comment, and held me tight against her. Feeling my friend beside me was making me so happy I was feeling like I could start crying. My mom definitely knew what to do to touch my heart. We stayed in each other's arms for a few seconds, before she started talking again with laughter in her voice :

"Wait, let me look at you." She said, pulling away from my embrace but keeping my hand in hers. "Wow." She added with a playful smile. "It looks like every time we see each other, you're pregnant."

"Hey, it's not my fault if we meet once every three years." I laughed, staring at her as well.

It hit me all at once how much she had changed. I hadn't shared more than a few sentences with her, but I could tell without a hesitation she was less afraid of herself, she was looking way more confident. Maybe being a queen had helped her, but her eyes were shining with an all new light : she was looking genuinely happy. Her evolution was amazing, and I couldn't help but say :

"You're glowing, Elsa."

"I could say the same thing to you." She replied with a big smile, looking touched by my words.

"Stop it, I'm not stunning, I'm knocked up." I said, and that made her laugh.

"Don't say that, you're gorgeous. And talking about kids..." She changed the subject, taking me to the couch so we could sit next to each other. "How's little Liam? I can't wait to finally meet him."

I glanced at her in surprise, before understanding that my mom had probably talked to her about everything that had happened during her absence. I then smiled back at her and answered :

"He's more than fine, and he's a little angel. Killian and I are absolutely in love with him."

"And what about the little one? Is it a boy or a girl?" She asked, looking down at my stomach. "How far are you into the pregnancy? Five months?"

"We don't know yet for the gender." I said, mechanically placing my hand on my stomach, and the baby kicked as an answer to my stroke. "And I'm six and a half month pregnant."

"Wow." She said. "Already. Now that we've found a way to cross realms, I plan on being in Storybrooke quite often. I could meet the little one in that case."

"That'd be awesome!" I cried out with a big smile, feeling a little pinch of happiness in my chest, realizing my friend and I wouldn't be separated for that long anymore. "Anna isn't with you?"

"No, but her and Kristoff will be there in time for the wedding. We didn't want to leave Arendelle without a ruler for longer than necessary."

"I get it." I said, before placing my hand on my friend's, still not managing to believe she was actually there in front of me. "Gosh, I'm so, so glad you're here, Elsa. Now that we're at it..." I wavered a little bit, even if I knew deep down I was taking the right decision. "Do you want to have a part in the wedding? I think there's still a place of bridesmaid available."

I glanced at my mom, who was holding a bit back to give us some privacy, and she nodded with a huge smile to encourage me. I hadn't wanted to take a bridesmaid for the wedding ceremony : I didn't have a real best friend, and I hadn't wanted to choose between my mom and Regina, who were the most suitable for the job. But now that Elsa was here, I didn't have any doubt left. She was the one who was going to stand beside me at the altar, and I couldn't have been happier about it.

She accepted my offer with a big smile, looking very touched by this idea, and we carried on talking for half an hour in the loft before deciding to go home so we wouldn't left Regina alone with the kids for too long. I had never imagined my mom would give me such a gift, and I was feeling grateful beyond words for this surprise. Having my friend, the one who had helped me accept who I really was, beside me was making me so happy. And deep down, a little voice was telling me that this wasn't the last surprise I would get from my parents.

* * *

"Girls, we're home!"

My dad's voice had rung into the hall. He had spoken quite lowly, certainly in order not to wake the kids up. I smiled and glanced at Elsa, who was sitting beside me on the sofa. We were talking for hours, my mom and Regina holding back to leave us alone, aware that we were catching up after years spent apart. It was feeling like we had left each other the day before, and our friendship hadn't suffered from our long separation. I was so happy she was there for my wedding. I couldn't have asked for a better gift.

"I'm going." I decided, getting up to go join Hook, Robin, Henry and my dad.

My mom had explained to me that the latter had participated to the surprise, but Killian had absolutely no idea Elsa was in town. I smiled, eager to see his reaction. He had always gotten along with my friend pretty well, and I was sure he was going to be surprised, but very glad to see her.

I walked into the hall to find the four men enthusiastically talking with each other. I approached them to announce myself, but Killian saw me first, and a big smile appeared on his face. He walked toward me and passionately kissed me, which allowed me to realize he had forced on the alcohol a little bit.

"Oh, captain, you've drunk." I said, placing both my hands on his chest, amused by the situation.

He was far from being completely drunk, but he was looking a bit tipsy, and I tried to hide my smile by biting the inside of my cheek. I had never told him this, but I was always finding him really funny when he had drunk. It was making the defiant side of him stronger, and he was even more flirty with me than usual, and deep down, I was liking this very much. Especially because it was reminding me of all those nights spent at drinking rum together, when we were alone at home. We were always having so much fun, and I ended up smiling anyway to show him I wasn't annoyed by the state he was in.

"Hey, if I had listened to your father, it would have been much worse." He defended himself, wrapping both his arms around my waist to pull me closer to him.

"Dad." I grunted, turning to look at David, a bit annoyed by this childish behavior.

"I just wanted to know how well he could hold his rum." He informed me with an innocent smile.

"Yeah, right." I said with one of my eyebrow raised. "Meanwhile, babe, I'll advise you to pretend you're sober, because we have a guest." I added to Killian with a smile, placing my head on his shoulder for a hug.

"What do you mean?" He said, surprised.

I shared a smile with my dad behind Hook's shoulder, and took Killian's hand to guide him to the living room, where my friend was awaiting for us. Seeing us coming in, she got up and, without paying attention to Killian's astounded expression, she hugged him to greet him.

"What… How did you..." He started when she pulled away from him, looking completely confused.

I went to stand next to my friend, and giggled seeing Killian's reaction. His surprised was foreseeable, but with the alcohol in addition to all of that, he was looking utterly lost. Compassionate, I placed my hand on his shoulder to explain :

"Elsa has come for the wedding."

"but… How?" He asked, my brief explanation not helping him to understand what was going on.

I laughed once again, and took him to the couch to make him sit down and tell him everything. As time went by, he looked less and less lost, and nodded several times to show us he was getting what we were saying. I looked at him during the entire time, and ended up cuddling against his chest, as he was absent-mindlessly wrapping his arm around my shoulder to make his fingers play against my side.

"I'm so happy for you two." Elsa finished with a big smile. "For the new baby and for the wedding. You deserve to be happy more than anyone after everything you've been through."

I turned to look at Killian, who was also staring at me, his eyes sparkling with pure happiness. He ended up leaning forward to press a kiss on the top of my head, and I snuggled a little bit deeper into his arms. Elsa was right. We were deserving this happiness, and we were going to enjoy every bite of it. Because, if I was referring to my experience, I knew it could break at any moment.

* * *

 **and... next chapter is the wedding ceremony! Hope to see you Friday! :)**


	28. Chapter 28

**Thanks a lot to paupaupi, oncer4life11, Emilee Amethyst and Araya (we'll find out the baby gender in a few chapters, but I can't really tell because it's a big spoiler :) ) for the reviews! You guys rock!**

* * *

"You look so beautiful." Elsa whispered with a great sincerity as I was examining my image in the huge mirror placed right in front of me.

I looked up to meet her own reflection in the glass and took a deep breath to try and slow my heart that was pounding almost painfully in my chest for quite a while already. Since the moment I had arrived here, actually. My friend was looking at me, her eyes widened in awe, as my mom was staring at my reflection with a smile in which I detected an immense pride. I looked down again, focusing on my image while nervously biting my thumb nail without even realizing it.

The dress I was wearing was still utterly perfect. As I had expected it, my baby bump was now slightly showing underneath the skirt, thing that was making me pretty happy as I wanted the baby to be part of the ceremony as well. On top of all of this, the weather was splendid without being too hot, and a little breeze was blowing in gentle gusts and was pleasantly cooling the atmosphere. I could hear the noises of the guest's conversations coming from the Jolly Roger where they were all already settled. I was standing a few feet away from the ship, underneath an arbor that had been placed there so I could get dressed with some privacy.

I was supposed to get married in a few minutes, and I was completely panicked about it.

Yet, I didn't have any doubts about this choice I had made to get married. My fear wasn't coming from this decision. I was loving Killian from the bottom of my heart, and I wanted him to become my husband more than anything in this world. But what was horrifying was that crowd that was awaiting for me out there, and that was expecting me to give them a beautiful speech, in which I would put into sentences how much I loved this wonderful man with whom I had built my life. The problem was I was feeling completely unable to answer this expectation, and I didn't know what to do anymore.

I had always been way more talented for gestures than for romantic speeches. I had tried to write my emotions down on a piece of paper the day before, though, but I had miserably failed. Everything that had appeared during these long hours of research had seemed completely bland compared to what I was actually feeling for Killian. And I was so scared I wouldn't be able to say a thing, while I was loving him so damn much. I was terrified I would disappoint him, as I just wanted to make him happy. I was feeling so lost, and I turned to look at my mom and Elsa with a frustrated wince :

"What am I gonna do?" I whimpered as my mom was approaching me to take my hands in hers and ease me a little bit. "They are all waiting for a big speech, and I have nothing. Screw them, actually. All I want is explain to Killian how much I love him, and I just can't. He has probably prepared the most beautiful speech this town has ever heard, and I have nothing to give him in return."

"Emma." She started with a comforting smile, gently stroking my hands with her thumbs. "Everything is going to go just fine. I know you're scared, but there is no reason to feel that way."

"But what am I gonna do when Archie is going to ask me to say my vows and I won't be able to say a thing, tell me?" I protested as my heart was fastening again in my chest.

"You wanna know something? Just let your heart speak for you. It's always the best way to do things. Just say what you're thinking the way it comes to your mind, as if Killian and you were alone on the ship. Don't overthink it. You'll see, it'll just happen on its own."

"Yeah, it's easier said than done. You're not the one who's going to be at the altar in five minute." I mumbled with a pout.

She gently smiled at me as an answer, looking quiet amused by my comment, and we got interrupted by steps ringing against the ground. We turned to see Regina entering the arbor. She was looking pretty impatient, and showed me her watch with her lips pressed together :

"You're already late, you have to go now, Swan."

I whimpered in panic, and my friend rolled her eyes in an annoyed expression that was contrasting with the clear pink dress she was wearing and which was giving her the most innocent look possible. The fact I was a bit late was obviously bothering her very much. I didn't have enough courage left to face her mockery, and thus chose not to tell her her how scared I was feeling. I took a few more deep breaths to give myself some strength. My mom wrapped her arms around me and held me tight, whispering to my ear :

"Everything is gonna be just fine, I promise."

I didn't answer anything, and she pulled away from me to briefly cup my cheek and look at me more carefully. The proud smile she offered me made me feel a little bit better, and I stared at her back as she was walking away with Regina, disappearing in the docks enlightened by the august sun. When they were out of sight, I looked back at Elsa, who was looking quite amused by my nervousness. She was wearing a clear blue dress and her hair was tied into this long braid that was characterizing her so much. With a huge smile, she approached me and grabbed my shoulders to say with a surprising honesty :

"Look, Emma, I haven't told you this yet, but you've changed a lot."

"Changed?" I repeated, frowning, not understanding what she wanted to say by these words.

"Yeah, you're not the same as you were before. The woman I knew was closed off and terrified by her own powers. You've changed so much. You're now open to love, and I think it's largely thanks to Killian. So don't worry a bit : as your mom said, just let your emotions speak. Tell him how you feel as if it was just the two of you, and you'll see, you won't even have to think about what you're saying. And if it's failing him that scares you, don't fret about it. This man loves you so much, you won't ever disappoint him."

I stayed silent after hearing this statement, a bit puzzled. But she wasn't wrong, I was realizing it. I wasn't the same as I was before. I wasn't that little orphan crying after her parents at night and thinking that no one could ever love her. So perhaps Elsa was right. Maybe I could do it, after all, maybe I could talk about my feelings in front of dozens of people…

...Or maybe not, because my stomach got quite painful at this thought. The baby kicked inside of me, as if it was feeling my anxiety, and I absent-mindlessly placed my hand on my stomach to ease it. I was about to answer to my friend that it wasn't that easy, but she didn't give me the time to do so. Still smiling, she grabbed my arm and took me to the exit of the arbor, where my father was patiently waiting for us.

He had been so happy when I had asked him to drive me to the altar, as the tradition wanted him to do. He was actually taking this part very seriously. Impeccably dressed, he was standing straight, his back to us, and was looking quite peaceful about what was about to happen. He heard us coming before we had the chance to announce our presence, and his eyes enlightened when he saw me in the dress my mom was wearing for her own wedding.

"Emma… You look like a princess." He whispered in awe, shaking his head and looking deeply moved by the situation.

I weakly smiled at him as an answer, not feeling good enough to say something in return. Everyone was telling me that I was gorgeous, but it wasn't managing to make me feel better. I actually knew that the only person who could have calmed me down right now was Killian. I took another deep breath, telling myself that I could do it, for him, and that I was able to go and face the crowd and talk about my feelings. Elsa smiled as well and turned to face me, taking both my hands in hers :

"Okay, Emma, let's go. Breathe, relax, everything is going to be all right."

I obeyed and breathed slowly to try and keep calm. She briefly hugged me to encourage me before turning her back to us to head for the Jolly Roger, a flower bouquet in her hands. I looked at her walking away from us and hardly swallowed. My father proudly gave me his arm, and I accepted it with the feeling the oxygen wasn't reaching my lungs anymore.

"Nervous?" He asked with a kindly teasing smile as we were starting to walk as well.

"What do you think?" I replied, glancing at him with a little wince.

"I get it." he answered with a little laugh. "Everyone is nervous the day of their wedding. But Elsa is right. Everything is going to be just fine, just listen to your heart."

I held back a sight realizing he had used the same image as my mother before him to try and comfort me a bit. These two were definitely meant for each other. He kindly smiled at me, and, in silence, we carried on walking behind Elsa.

I closed my eyes for a second, trying to settle down as my heart was still pounding at a breakneck speed against my ribs. Not ready enough to face the crowd, I looked down at my feet as I was climbing the boarding ramp, and didn't look up right away when I arrived on the deck. It's only when I heard the chairs squealing against the wood, announcing the guests that had stood to greet me, that I decided to discover what was awaiting for me.

More than fifty close ones were standing in front of me and were all staring at me, most of them smiling, others with their eyes sparkling in emotion. The space had been arranged so the seats would form a central aisle in which I was now walking. A bit intimidated by all these people that had come to see us and not particularly liking to be the center of the attention, I turned my eyes to look at the other side of the ship and met Killian's, trying to reassure myself.

He was standing there, next to Archie and Henry, and was literally staring at me. His lips parted, I could see his chest moving at the fast pace of his breathing, and noticed his eyes were shinning with pure happiness. He had traded his usual leather clothes for a regulatory suit, and was looking completely dazzled by my presence. As soon as I saw him, I couldn't help but smile and understood my mom had been right all along: I didn't have to think about it, I just needed to tell him how much I loved him and it wasn't that difficult. I was so in love with him, I just had to follow my instinct. Killian smiled as well, and looked as if he was about to walk to join me, but he held back at the last second, remembering that the tradition wanting him to stay where he was.

"Wow!"

I was almost next to Killian when my baby brother screamed in awe, and the entire gathering giggled, tenderized by his reaction. Not managing to stop smiling now that I was there, I turned toward Neal to gently wink at him. He was sitting on my mom's lap, next to Liam, who was looking at the scene, completely fascinated.

My father ended up letting go of my arm, and he hugged me tight with pride, before letting me join Killian. The latter looked at me with pure love in his eyes, and he was looking like the happiest man on earth. Resisting to the wish I had to hold him close to me – and knowing this moment was coming soon enough anyway – I turned back to Archie, who started his speech with a huge smile on his face.

The ceremony wasn't a religious one, and Archie stopped talking quite quickly. With a welcoming gesture in our direction, and still warmly smiling at us, he showed us it was our turn to speak. I looked at Killian to meet his eyes, and he smiled almost sheepishly at me. Without really looking like he was thinking about what he was doing, he reached for my hand and squeezed it in his, before starting to talk in a gentle voice :

"Emma, I can't even tell you how happy I am to stand here by your side today. We came so far since our first meeting – I have to remind you you've placed a knife against my throat before chaining me in a giant's den" he stated with a kindly teasing smile, and the crowd laughed quietly as I snorted myself in amusement."And yet, I've known since the first moment I saw you you are such a wonderful woman. You impress me every day by your strength when you have to face something, and by your gentleness when you talk to those you love. You've helped me become a better man, a hero while I was just a pretentious pirate only thinking about his revenge. Thanks to you, I started to think about the possibility of a happy ending for the first time in dozens of years, and I think that's what we are living right now. Look at us. We are getting married, Henry is a wonderful young lad, our son is an angel and we are expecting another baby. I have never been this happy in my entire life, and I know this happiness is going to last for so many years, as long as we're together. I promise you I'll do everything I can to offer you everything you deserve and to make you happy. I love you so much, Emma Swan, and from the bottom of my heart, I'm thanking you for helping me to be the best version of myself."

His speech had made my heart beat even faster. I had a horrible second of doubt during which I had the feeling I couldn't say a single thing, because nothing could ever match his beautiful declaration. But when I looked at him, I didn't even have to think, as my mom had promised me. I just lost myself in his eyes, and I knew exactly what to tell him.

"Killian, between the two of us, you've always been the talented one for big speeches. So I'm going to try and do as well as you, even if I can't promise you anything, because nothing could ever match what you just told me. When we met, I was completely closed to love. The reason why I've chained you that day is because when we were together, what I was feeling deep inside of me was scaring me to death. This thing was that I knew I didn't have to protect myself when I was with you, because you were getting me better than anyone else. As you said it that day, I was an open book for you. I know I can be myself with you, because you understand, always. You've helped me get my faith back in love, and I could never thank you enough for that. Thanks to you, I've broken this armor that was supposed to protect me, and it's probably one of the best thing that has ever happened to me. You're always there when I need you, you're the best dad our kids could ever wish for, and I sometimes feel like you're getting me without even having to tell you anything. I would never have thought I could live this kind of perfect relationship, and here we are right now. When I got out of jail, I thought I was destined to lead a lonely life, with no one by my side. And now I'm a mother of two beautiful sons, and I'm pregnant with our child. I've never been this happy in my entire life, and you are largely responsible for this happiness. You've managed to take the lost little girl back home, Killian and… Thanks to you, I think I've finally found Tallahassee."

I stopped talking and saw in his eyes he was deeply touched by my words. He was the only one I had talked to about Tallahassee, this place where I was supposed to find happiness with Neal all those years ago, and he was therefore the only one able to understand what this last sentence really meant. But it didn't matter, because he was looking so happy and seemed to be forcing himself not to break the short distance between us to kiss me breathlessly. But he knew it wasn't the right moment, and he gently smiled at me while pressing my fingers between his. Archie then resumed talking to direct the exchange of the wedding bands, as we were still staring at each other, unable to look away.

"To conclude, Killian Jones, do you take Emma Swan as your lawfully wedded wife?"

He smiled at me, and I did as well, knowing it was the big moment and, after that, we would finally be united for life. As if we were alone on the deck, he met my eyes and answered :

"I do."

"Emma Swan, Do you take Killian Jones as your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do." I whispered with the feeling I was drowning in Killian's clear blue eyes.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." He said and, in a matter of second and without knowing which one of us had decided to approach the other first, we were kissing each other breathlessly.

The kiss lasted for a long while, under the cheering and the laughter of our friends. After another minute, we ended up pulling way from each other, and walked down the aisle hand in hand, ready to live this happiness that was awaiting for us.

* * *

The afternoon had been more than eventful. Between the photo shoots, the congratulations received by every single guests and the place that was slowly but surely falling into place for the party that was going to follow, we hadn't had one single second to rest. The weather was still beautiful, and the pleasant wind was making the waves crash against the ship hull in a gentle back and forth.

Now that the ceremony was over, I wasn't feeling nervous at all anymore. I had managed to tell Killian how I was feeling without a hesitation, and I had to admit I was pretty proud of myself as he had looked deeply moved by my declaration.

I was now sitting on the Jolly Roger's steps and was enjoying a quiet moment. I was holding in my hands the camera that had been used to take the pictures, and smiled looking for the umpteenth time at my favorite photograph. Killian and I were both standing on our side, looking into each other's eyes as if we had forgotten we weren't alone. Killian was knelt in front of me, his hook and hand placed on my baby bump. We were both laughing at this pose, and the photographer had taken the picture at the perfect moment. I mentally told myself that this snapshot was without a doubt going to go join the others on the board in the kitchen, and my smile widened at this thought.

I looked up and carefully placed the camera next to me on the steps. Most of the guests had gone home to get ready for the party, which was going to start pretty soon. My family, Killian included, was now placing the tables on the docks and the beach, where the reception was supposed to take place. They had refused my help, claiming that given the fact I was the bride and, in addition to that, I was pregnant, I wasn't supposed to do anything. From where I was sitting, I could hear Regina getting annoyed at my parents because they hadn't wanted her to use her magic to make the venue ready. Deciding that I wanted to watch the show from closer, I got up to go and join them, but steps coming from the boarding roam made me stop.

I turned to see Killian approaching me, and gently smiled at him. He joined me with a huge grin on his face, wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him. Before saying anything, he took the time to passionately kiss my lips, and I moaned against his mouth. Since the ceremony had ended, he was looking like the happiest man on earth, and it was making me so glad because I was feeling the exact same thing. We were both lost in our little bubble of happiness, and this feeling was simply perfect.

"You look absolutely stunning, have I told you already?" He stated when he had pulled away from me.

"At least a dozen times, yeah." I laughed, feeling myself blush a little bit. "My parents and Regina are fighting again?"

"Surprisingly, yeah." he jeered, and that made me giggle.

"Are you sure you don't need my help?" I offered, gently running my fingers up and down his spine. "I think you could use a hand, I mean there's a lot of work to do..."

"You're the bride..." He immediately protested.

"And you're the groom, yet you're helping them..." I cut him off, but it didn't seem to convince him at all.

"You're pregnant..."

"… But not sick, thank you very much."

"And you don't want to damage your dress, do you?"

"I can go change..."

"Don't you dare." He seriously said, and that made me laugh out loud.

I moved to wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him once again, as his right hand was making its way to gently land on my stomach. I put my forehead against his own, as his gentle strokes were making me shiver. I was however not decided to let go of my wish to go and help them, and started, pulling a little bit away from him to look at him in the eyes :

"Seriously, babe. I'm getting bored here on my own. Let me help you."

"Okay, come with me." He surrendered. "But I promise you that if I see you make the slightest effort, I'm going to get mad."

"Threats?" I laughed, knowing all too well he wasn't serious.

"You know I'm kidding." He answered with a gentle smile. "But I really want you to rest and enjoy everything today. You're doing so much for everyone all the time, I think you deserve a break. And the baby too." he added, gently stroking my stomach.

"Very well." I shrugged, and the happy smile he offered me finished to convince me entirely. "I promise you I won't make any effort."

He kissed me again, looking genuinely relieved by my answer, and he took my hand to drive me to the docks. As soon as he saw us arriving, Liam, who was playing with Henry and Neal, rushed toward us to join us. Killian took him in his arms, laughing at our son's enthusiasm, and my brother and son approached us as well. Neal looked up to stare at me with a weirdly sheepish expression on his face when he arrived next to me, what triggered me a little bit.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" I asked, a bit intrigued by this unusual behavior.

"You look like mommy when she married daddy." he answered in a low voice.

I understood he was referring to Henry's book, which was retracing our stories and which my mom loved to read for my brother's bedtime story. I smiled, tenderized by his sweet comment, and squatted in front of him to erase his shy expression :

"That's because I'm wearing the same dress as mom." I explained, placing my hand on his back.

"Emma?" he started with a focused wince, as if he was intensely thinking about something.

"Yeah, Neal?" I kindly encouraged him.

"Mommy says you are a princess. But like, a real princess, like in the books! Is that true?"

"Yeah, it is." I said, a bit surprised by this unexpected question.

"And she also says I'm a prince."

"You are, Neal." I patiently answered even if we had already talked about that with him, but getting that my brother was still very young to understand all these complicated stories.

"But in that case, why aren't we living in a castle?"

"That's a long story." I answered with a smile. "You should ask mom to explain it to you before going to bed tonight, okay? But meanwhile, don't worry about this anymore. Go have some fun."

I winked at him, and he smiled before nodding at me and running to join our parents. I turned to Killian, who had witnessed our conversation, and pressed a kiss on Liam's forehead. He was also looking a bit lost because of all that was going on around him, and was unusually preoccupied. Hook seemed to notice our son's strange behavior as well, and he asked in a gentle voice :

"You're not saying anything, little mate? Are you having fun?"

Our little boy wavered for a second before nodding, still staring at me in an almost fascinated manner. It was true he had almost never seen me in a dress before, and he was looking quite impressed by my outfit. To comfort him, I gently stroked his cheek and said with enthusiasm :

"Are you happy about the party coming?"

"A party?" He asked almost shyly.

"Yeah, we've talked about it, remember?" Killian gently said. "There is going to be a lot of guests, music, you'll be able to dance..."

"Really?" he asked, looking suddenly very interested by this statement.

"Yeah, and more importantly..." I started with a purposely mysterious tone. "There is going to be a cake!"

"Yeah! Can I have some?" he asked, finally regaining his smile at this revelation.

"Of course, it's a very special day, you know." Killian stated, before starting to tickle him, resulting of Liam screaming in joy.

Their game lasted for a couple of seconds, and I looked at them with a smile on my face, happy to see them so close. But our son ended up regaining his serious look, as if he was thinking about something important. Wondering what was going on with him, I gently ran my hand through his hair and asked :

"What's worrying you, sweetheart?"

He seemed to hesitate a little bit before answering. He frowned, his beautiful green eyes shinning in curiosity, and he ended up asking in a little voice :

"Why is Peanut gone?"

I suddenly understood what was worrying him so much. My stomach was much less noticeable than usual, hidden underneath my dress, and my son was only two and a half. It was normal he was concerned by the sudden disappearance of his little sibling. I then smiled at him to comfort him, and took his hand in mine to place it on my bump :

"It's still there, baby. It's just hiding for now. But it's okay, I promise you. You really don't have to worry."

At that exact moment, the baby gave a little kick, and Liam's eyes enlightened with joy. Tenderized by his adorable reaction, I added in a gentle voice :

"See? It's fine."

Liam instantly regained his grin, and I glanced at Killian with a little smile before quickly kissing my son on the forehead. Hook ended up putting him back on the ground, and he ran to join the others kids, all his good mood back. Killian wrapped his arms around me while watching our son walking away from us, and he kissed the top of my head, holding me tight against him :

"We are so lucky." I whispered, cuddling a little bit more against his chest. "To have such adorable kids in the family, I mean." I added, seeing he wasn't quite getting my statement. "They are a bunch of little angels."

"And the little one is going to complete the picture." He answered with a big smile, placing his hand back on my stomach.

"You don't know that. Maybe it'll take our personalities, and if that's the case, it's not going to be pleasant at all." I said, trying to hold my laughter back at this thought.

"Don't overstate it, we are so calm and easy-going."

I turned to look at him and noticed he had one of his eyebrows raised and was pressing his lips together to avoid smiling, and I burst out laughing at his expression. I put myself on my tiptoe to press a gentle kiss on his cheek.

"I love you." I whispered before wrapping both my arms around him to hold him tight, my head leaning on his shoulder.

I could feel his heart pounding in his chest through his clothes. I had to admit mine was beating pretty fast as well : I couldn't believe how lucky I was to have found this wonderful man. He was all at once my lover and my best friend, and I knew I could tell him anything without being judged. We were understanding each other perfectly, and were supporting each other no matter what hardship life was putting on our path. This future he had promised me all those years ago, it was wonderful and I was enjoying every single second of it.

He gently ran his hand up and down my spine in a comforting back and forth, and kissed me on the temple to bring me even closer to him. I felt him smiling as he was saying, his head against mine :

"I love you too so much, my love."

We stayed in each other's arms for a long time, in a silence only broken by the noises of the waves crashing on the beach and those of the kids laughing together, realizing how lucky we were to be together.

* * *

 **Here we go, hope you liked the wedding! Hope to see you Monday! :)**


	29. Chapter 29

**Thanks to oncer4life11 , Guest and Araya for the reviews! **

* * *

Sitting at one of the round tables that had been settled on the beach, I smiled realizing how happy I was. I was sitting barely a few inches from Killian, who was on my left, but my parents, Henry, Regina, Robin, Elsa and the children were settled all around us. While eating the simple and yet so delicious meal that had been served in porcelain dishes, I was absent-mindlessly listening to my mom giving speeches supposed to explain how happy she was for us. I glanced around me to look at my friends, who were all joyfully chatting with each other, settled around the other tables, the one I was sitting at forming the center of them. The dance floor was a few feet away from the buffet, but as we were still eating, it was still empty. A low music was ringing between the noises of the conversation, giving to the scene the feeling we were in the middle of a romantic comedy. An outsider could have thought we were in a perfectly common town, just enjoying the normal wedding of an ordinary couple.

I put my fork back on the table and discreetly stretched before leaning against the back of my chair. Almost instantaneously, Killian wrapped his right arm around my waist to pull me closer to him, and I met his gaze as he was gently smiling at me. I completely lost myself into the blue of his eyes, and grinned back at him. I ended up placing my head on his shoulder while he was kissing the top of my head, as if we had forgotten we weren't alone on the beach. It's my dad's voice that made me startle and drew me back to reality. I hadn't even noticed my mom had stopped talking, too lost in my little bubble of happiness in the arms of the man I loved.

"You two are so cute together."

"You finally admit it." Killian joked before pressing another kiss on my temple, his fingers tickling my side in a gentle stroke.

"I never denied it." David defended himself while raising his eyebrows. "I just didn't trust you. And you can't blame me for that, you're a former pirate after all. I just wanted to protect my daughter."

"I can take care of myself!" I protested, what made my entire family laugh.

"And you're both stubborn as hell."

"Dad!"

"David!"

My mom and I had screamed at the exact same time, and we both burst out laughing at our reaction. I saw my father looking down at his watch, and he suddenly seemed very focused. I was about to ask him what was the cause of this sudden mood swing, but he got off his chair and gestured toward Killian, who broke our embrace to get up as well. Perplexed and not wanting him to go away, I reached for his wrist to hold him back and said :

"Where are you going?"

"You'll see." He answered with a purposely mysterious smile, before leaning forward to press a little kiss on my lips.

I stared at him heading for the dance floor, my eyebrows frowned in confusion, feeling a new surprise coming my way and not knowing if I was liking this sudden twist or not. I tried to quietly ask my mom what was happening, but she was looking down at her plate and was trying not to laugh, what made me think she knew exactly what was going on. A bit worried about what was happening once again, I looked back at my dad and Killian to finally discover the truth. Hook smiled at me when he noticed my questioning look, and I immediately relaxed, seeing his expression. Whatever he had planned, it was going to please me. He was knowing me so well.

"Your attention, please." My dad started in a solemn voice, and I smiled as he was holding a mic in front of his mouth.

They were now both standing in the middle of the dance floor, and the silence filled in the beach as every guest were staring at them. Killian reached for his ear, as always when he was feeling a bit awkward, and I noticed he was searching for my eyes to reassure himself. I smiled at him to comfort him and show him everything was okay, and he winked at me, already more confident. I saw Liam's eyes widened in awe when he saw Hook standing in front of all these people, and I leaned to whisper to his ear :

"Look, baby! It's daddy!"

He didn't answer anything, and I smiled when I saw how adorable he looked. I playfully fluffed his hair, but he didn't even seem to notice it, too busy looking at his father. Our son was already admiring Killian so much, he was trying to act like him, and I was ready to bet that, in a few years, he would be the exact picture of his dad.

"As you know." My father continued, what drew my attention away from my son. "It's a tradition for the groom and the bride to share a dance in this world."

I felt my eyes widening in fear and stopped listening to my father, who was resuming his speech, frantically shaking my head in their direction. If they were expecting me to dance alone with Killian right there, while everyone was looking at me, they were so damn wrong. I hated being the center of the attention, and I was already way too famous because I was the Savior. I didn't need that at all. I just couldn't do it.

I however saw Hook giggling when he noticed how panicked I looked, and he took the mic in his hand, glancing at it a bit suspiciously :

"Don't look at me like that, love. I know you don't like that kind of things. You're all invited to join us on the dance floor."

I sighted in relief, placing my hand on my stomach as the baby was kicking, as if it was also glad to know we didn't have to stand there in front of all these people. I didn't want to refuse their offer, but I just couldn't stand there alone while everyone was looking at me. I should have known I was wrong, actually : Killian was knowing me better than anyone. He would never have forced me to do something I wasn't comfortable with, he was loving me and respecting me way too much for that.

He gave the mic back to my dad, and approached me to reach for my hand and help me get up, his eyes sparkling with pure love. I let him take me to the dance floor without being able to stop smiling, knowing that their surprise wasn't actually stopping there. Killian placed his hook on the small of my back and pulled me closer to him as I was breathing him, a little pinch of happiness forming just underneath my heart.

And indeed, as I had expected it, once everyone was standing in the middle of the dance floor, my mom and dad, Anna and Kristoff, Robin and Regina and several other couples joining us, a music coming from god knows where started to ring above the noises of the waves crashing on the beach. I needed a few seconds to realize what was happening, as I was too astonished to convince myself of the reality of what I was living. As everyone was slowly starting to move around me, I looked at Killian, my lips parted, and stuttered :

"How did you…?"

The song that was playing was the same that had rung in the castle while we were sharing our very first dance, Killian and I, all those years ago. This moment had been a magical parenthesis in our quest to come back to the present, and I felt a wave of old emotions rushing over me as tears were filling in my eyes because I was feeling so touched by this gesture. Killian glanced at me with a gentle smile and whispered to my ear :

"We've never had the chance to finish this waltz the first time, so I thought it was the prefect moment to do so. I hope you remember how it works, princess."

And without waiting any longer, he gently took me against him and I started to slowly move at the slow pace of the music. I could recall the dance perfectly : I had to admit this waltz was forever etched in my memory. This moment was so important to me because it was there that I had stopped protecting myself when I was with him, and it was such a special moment in our relationship. I had understood in that moment that I didn't have to wear my armor with him, and accepting that had completely changed my life. I could still recall how his hand had felt in mine as an unknown force had made me unable to look away from him. Exactly like things were right now.

"You're amazing." I whispered as we were gracefully spinning around the dance floor, his hand in mine and his hook placed on the small of my back.

"I know." He said with a shrug, what made me giggle through my unshed tears.

"Where did you find this music?"

"I have my sources." He said with a little smile without really answering my question.

I looked deep into his eyes as he was smiling at me, and we resumed dancing in silence, mostly because I was feeling too moved to say something consistent. When the music stopped, I put myself on my tiptoe to kiss him breathlessly, and he wrapped his arms around me to pull me even closer to him. We stayed for a long time cuddled against each other as the music had changed to play songs coming from this world. After a few more minutes, I ended up pulling away from him and cupped his cheek, still smiling as a lump was forming in my throat. Knowing how moved I was, he pressed a kiss on my forehead and took me against him again before gesturing toward a corner of the room with a little laugh :

"Look at Liam!"

I obeyed to notice that our son was waddling on the dance floor with the other kids, giggling in pure joy. He was looking overexcited, and I burst out laughing, saying :

"It's crazy how much he looks like you."

"I dance like that?" He asked, what made me giggle, and I poked his shoulder while shaking my head.

"Of course not, you idiot. If he has the same humor you have, I don't know how I'm gonna survive."

"And if he becomes as sassy as you are, I'm gonna be mocked all the time."

I smiled and kissed his neck to erase his falsely outraged look. He immediately regained his smile, unable to pretend to be mad at me, and I gently started talking again :

"Seriously, though. I'm sure you were his exact picture when you were a little boy."

"I honestly can't remember." he said with a shrug. "I remind you it was 200 years ago." He added and I giggled again.

"Sometimes, I would have liked cameras to exist in the Enchanted Forest." I confessed with a pout. "Pictures in Henry's book are beautiful, but it's just not the same."

"I know, darling. If it can make you feel better, I promise you we'll take pictures of the little ones all the time from now on." He said, and I smiled at him as he was still looking at Liam. "You say he looks like me, but he has your eyes."

"And he has your smile." I replied, tuning my head to stare straight into his eyes, gently placing my finger on his lips.

He kissed my hand, and I stayed quiet for a few seconds, shivering at his touch. I wrapped both my arms around him as he was suddenly looking a bit absent, lost in his thoughts. When he met my questioning gaze, he smiled at me and ran his fingers down my spine, saying :

"I can't even tell you how happy I am to be here with you."

"I'm so happy too." I answered with half a smile, my heart fastening as I heard his statement.

"You know what, my love? I propose we enjoy this night until the very end. We'll only live this once, and I don't want to miss one second of it."

And without waiting for an answer, he took my hand and made me spin as I was giggling in happiness

* * *

The party ended much later, and it was 4 in the morning when we came back home. Liam had ended up falling asleep in my mom's arms, exhausted by all this agitation, and all the kids had gradually started to rest against the grown-ups, what had made us laugh a lot. They were all looking so peaceful while the party was still going, and it was so adorable. Everyone was looking like they had spent a great night, and I was so glad to see our friends as happy for us as we were.

It had been decided that my parents would take care of Liam for the night, and the house was thus ours. Killian, as the good gentleman he was, opened the door for me, but he barely gave me the time to take off the light sweater I was wearing above my dress as I was walking in the hallway, and started to kiss me passionately. I giggled, amused by his behavior, but the truth was I was pretty happy by his eagerness and the twist the night was taking : maybe it was the hormones, but I had to admit I'd had to force myself not to jump on him several times during the party.

My back hit the wall behind me, and he ran his hand through my hair and in my neck, tying my bun down on his way. My hair fell in blond curls on my shoulders, and I stopped our kisses for a second to take off the necklace my mom had given me, as his hand was still gently stroking my back :

"It was my mom's mother. It's just weird if I keep it while we're doing this." I explained, seeing his questioning look, as I was carefully putting the jewelry on the chest of drawers in the hall.

"The dress was your mom's too." He relevantly replied with a little smirk.

"It's only a replica, it's not the real one. And something tells me that I'm not going to wear it for much longer." I answered, trying not to start laughing at my own comment.

He chuckled and, as if he wanted to show me I had been right, he helped me take off the dress, that fell on the floor with a muffled sound. I stepped away from it and started to kiss him again, feeling the cold touch of his hook on the small of my back, and enjoying the gentleness of his hand against my naked skin. I moaned when he slightly bit my lower lip, and, without pulling away from each other, we walked up the stairs to join our room. When we arrived, with a little push on his chest, I forced him to lay down on our bed and knelt above him, my kisses going lower and lower on his stomach as a sight of pleasure was escaping his lips.

* * *

The noise of someone knocking at our door startled me, and I woke up with a little groan, burying my face into the crook of Killian's neck to try and escape this unpleasant sound. We had spent a pretty eventful night- which was not very surprising, I had to admit it – and we had only fallen asleep around nine in the morning. I felt Hook starting to move next to me, as his arms were pulling me even closer to him, and I mumbled :

"… the hell?"

"Shh, perhaps they'll go away if we don't make any noise." Killian whispered, and I giggled.

And indeed, after a few seconds, the knocks ended up fading, and I sighted in relief, happy to be able to sleep a little bit longer. I turned to look at Hook with an amazed expression on my face, as his fingers were gently stroking my side :

"This worked surprisingly well."

"I have experiences in that field." He said with the smirk he always had when he was kindly teasing me.

"You're an idiot." I replied without managing to stop laughing.

I had fallen asleep against his chest, his arm around me, our naked skins against each other as we hadn't even put on some clothes after our quite enjoyable activities. Happy to have been able to make our visitors leave, I cuddled a little bit more against Killian with a little sight…

… That got interrupted by my cellphone ringing. Deeply annoyed, I rolled on my back under the protestations of Hook, who tried to pull me back against him, and I reached for my phone that was laying on the night table, picking up with a frustrated grunt :

"What?"

"Emma, is everything all right?" My mom's voice started in my ear, as she didn't seem to mind the fact I had almost yelled at her.

"Yeah, why?" I said, rubbing my eyes, still half asleep.

"Because it's 3 p.m. and you haven't given us any news since we left you last night."

"What?" I choked, sitting on the bed and glancing at the clock that was indeed indicating a pretty late hour.

I would never have imagined we would sleep that long, and I threw a gaze at Hook who, one of his arm under his head to look at me more easily, was looking like he was finding all of this really funny. I gave him a falsely annoyed look to show him I wasn't finding that amusing at all, but his smile widened even more.

"You were still sleeping?" My mom guessed with laughter in her voice.

"No!" I shouted, not wanting my mom to know when we had fallen asleep because I really didn't want her to have this kind of information in mind. "Not at all, we're up for hours!"

Hook burst out laughing next to me, and I threw my pillow at his face to make him shut up as I didn't want him to alarm my mom. It only made him laugh stronger, and I myself started to feel it hard to keep serious as I was asking :

"Why were you calling us?"

"We have something to tell you."

"Do you want us to go to Granny's?" I asked, wondering what was happening.

"No need, we're already at your door."

I almost dropped the phone on the floor, hearing these information. Hook, who could hear our conversation, pressed his lips together in order not to start laughing again as I was looking at him with a panicked expression on my face. My parents were in front of our house, and we weren't even dressed. I didn't want them to know what was going on, because I knew I would never hear the end of it. Worst than that, my sons were quite certainly with them, and if Liam was still too young to know what was happening, I didn't want Henry to learn the truth. I jumped out of the bed and grabbed one of my jeans in the wardrobe to dress the quicker possible, gesturing to show Killian, who was still smiling, to do the same.

"Okay." I said in the calmest way possible as I was jumping on one foot, trying not to fall on the ground while I was putting on my jeans with only one hand. "Give us the time to take care of a couple of stuffs, and we'll be there in two minutes."

I hung up without waiting for an answer and threw my phone on the bed, finally managing to put on my jeans. I grabbed a long and red shirt in the wardrobe with a little wince, but I was in such a hurry my gestures were somewhat awkward, and I dropped the clothes on the ground with another frustrated groan.

"Did you really just tell them we would be there in two minutes?" Killian mocked me, putting on a tight and black t-shirt.

"Shut up." I replied, and he laughed at my comment. "If they discover the truth, we will never hear the end of it."

"And you really think we can make them believe we woke up hours ago? Because it's not very credible, you know." He stated, raising one of his eyebrows and referring to the fact we were both looking exhausted.

"I can tell them I'm tired because of the pregnancy. You can say you're hungover."

"I barely drank, last night!" He protested as, finally dressed, we were heading for the bathroom.

"I see your reputation is quite important for you, captain." I scoffed, running a hand through my hair.

He didn't answer anything and looked at me in a falsely outraged way while reaching for the toothpaste. I smiled seeing his expression, and looked at my reflection in the mirror while brushing my teeth. My amusement turned into a wince. I was looking exhausted, what was not that surprising, but now that I had told my mom I was up for hours, I had to face the consequences of my words.

As I was hastily going out of the bathroom, Killian reached for my wrist and kindly made me face him. I looked at him with a questioning look, one of my eyebrow raised, and he pressed a gentle kiss on my lips. I enjoyed his strokes for a few seconds, letting go of a little sight of pleasure against his lips, but I ended up pulling away with a giggle :

"That's not what's going to make us go faster, you know. It will even quite certainly slow us down."

"Relax." He answered with a kind smile. "Your parents know we're not eight anymore."

"That's a fact." I said with another giggle, intertwining our fingers together to drag him behind me in the staircase. "But I still don't want them to have proof of this statement. So please do as I say, if you don't want to hear about this until the end of your life."

It made him smile, and he gently stroked my hand with his thumb as we were walking down the stairs. Once in the hallway, I winced once again seeing my wedding dress and Killian's tuxedo still laying on the floor. I stepped away from the clothes and walked toward the kitchen, saying behind my shoulder :

"Very well, you put the clothes upstairs, and I make us some hot cocoa and something to eat, all right?"

"You're planning on giving me orders now that we're married?" He said from the hallway with laughter in his voice.

"As if I wasn't doing it before." I laughed, putting myself on my tiptoe to grab mugs in the kitchen cupboard. "And stop complaining, sir, or you won't have anything to eat."

I heard him laugh from upstairs, and he walked back into the kitchen as I was finishing preparing a peanut butter sandwich. He helped me get the hot cocoa ready, and he handed me one of the two cups, leaning forward to press a tender kiss on my cheek.

"Ready?" He asked, grabbing one of the sandwich I had made.

"Ready." I nodded with a chuckle. "We're such a good team, don't you think?"

"You're only realizing it now?" He scoffed as we were walking toward the front door to greet my family.

I smiled and looked down for a few seconds to drink a sip of the hot cocoa with cinnamon, what completely woke me up. When I looked up, my entire family was already standing in the hallway, joyfully chatting with each other. I raised an eyebrow seeing that my baby brother and Elsa were in the room as well, in addition to my parents and my sons.

"You brought the entire tribe?" I asked with half a smile after hugging my mom.

She shrugged, looking quite amused by my comment, and the happy group headed for the living room, guided by Killian. Henry was the only one to hold back, and I understood at his smile he knew all too well I hadn't said the truth to my mom when she had called me earlier.

"So you're lying to your parents, now?" He laughed, poking my shoulder with a giggle.

"You would have done the same thing," I replied with a falsely annoyed look.

"Yeah, except you can tell when I'm lying, and that's not fair at all." He said with a little pout that made me lose my serious look.

"That's a quite useful superpower I have there, isn't it?" I laughed, gesturing so he would follow me to join the others in the living room

Still exhausted by our eventful night, I almost collapsed on the couch next to Killian, and put my half empty cup on the coffee table. As soon as his eyes met mine, Liam, who had stayed surprisingly calm until now, got off my dad's arms to run toward us. He fought to climb on the sofa, and cuddled between the both of us with a big smile on his face :

"Do you want some, sweetheart?" I asked, showing him my sandwich I had barely started, my maternal instinct taking over me once again.

He enthusiastically nodded, and I was about to give him half of my breakfast when Hook stopped me by putting his hook on my wrist. I looked up to him with a questioning look, wondering what he had in mind, and he cut half of his own sandwich to give it to our son :

"You need to eat for the baby." He explained with a little shrug, what made everyone smile in the room because he was always so sweet with me.

"Why are you eating your breakfast only now?" My dad asked, what made me wince because I was aware they actually knew about my lie and they were going to tease me about it for days.

"Because we're hungry." I quickly answered, trying to change the subject as Henry was quietly laughing. "What did you want to tell us anyway?"

"Oh, yeah, about that." My mom started in an overexcited tone, what worried me a little bit. "We came to tell you to make your bags. It's already late, and…

"Make our bags?" I cut her off without understanding what she was trying to tell me. "Are we going somewhere?"

I was beginning to think my family was so sleep deprived they were going crazy. They were all acting quite strangely, and this last sentence said by my mom was making me pretty perplexed. What idea could she have in mind again?

"That's what we wanted to talk about" My mom resumed with a huge smile.

I glanced at Killian, completely confused, as he was looking pretty lost as well. He raised an eyebrow, what made me chuckle because he was looking very funny. I ended up looking back to my mom, and said with a little bit of impatience :

"Could you give us more information or do we have to guess ourselves?"

"I'm going to tell you everything." My dad intervened, realizing my mom was way too excited to announced the news in a comprehensible way. "We have a surprise for you."

"What, again?" I asked, starting to ask myself some very important questions, because I had the feeling I had received dozen of surprises from my parents since the wedding announcement. "Guys, you know I appreciate it, but you really don't have to do all of this for us, honestly..."

"You're our daughter, Emma, and as I've already told you, we have 28 years of surprises to catch up." My mom said with a little sight.

I shared a quite concerned look with Killian. I had the impression they were feeling forced to offer me gifts, as if they wanted to apologize for abandoning me as a child, and it was making me quite uncomfortable, mostly because I had never been used to so much caring. Killian guessed that I was a bit upset, and he smiled at me in a comforting way, quietly telling me that I didn't have to worry. He then looked back at my parents and asked :

"Very well, so what's this surprise?"

"You know it's a tradition for the married couple to go on a honey moon after the wedding, in this world but also in the Enchanted Forest."

"… so go make your bags, because you're leaving for New York tomorrow morning!" My mom shouted, interrupting my father without even realizing it.

I felt my eyes widening in surprise, uncertain I had heard correctly. I had probably misunderstood her. It couldn't be. They hadn't gone that far for us. It was way too much. I needed some explanation, fast, because all of this was confusing me beyond words.

"Wh… what?" I stuttered, utterly confused as Hook was staring at them with his lips parted in surprise.

"Before you panic, let me explain everything." My dad laughed, amused by our reactions. "We have thought that after everything you've been through lately, maybe you would like to spend a few days just the two of you. The trip will only last a few days, and we'll take care of Liam for you. We have decided not to make the trip longer because Liam is still very young and we weren't sure he would stand being separated from his parents for very long, and also because you are pregnant. But if you wanna go elsewhere with the kids when the baby will be born, we'll gladly offer you a new trip."

"Wait." I cut him off, not managing to believe in the reality of what was happening, my heart pounding really fast in my chest. "Are you really telling us you're offering us a honey moon… In New York?"

"We thought it was a good idea because it isn't too far away from here, and you already know the town, Emma." My mom explained, panting a little bit because of her excitement. "We wanted to give you a few moments alone. You deserve it."

"You're taking the bus tomorrow at 6:30 in the morning." My dad explained with a huge smile, looking so proud of this idea. "The return is booked for Wednesday evening. We'll take you to the bus station, we told ourselves it was better for everyone because taking the plane or the yellow bug would have been too exhausting for you as you are pregnant, Emma..."

I stayed quiet for a few seconds, and turned to look at Killian, who was looking at my parents in awe as if he couldn't believe what was happening to him. It was completely crazy. Three days, just for us, in the town in which I had lived for a year. Three days during which we didn't have to worry about anything, not villains, not magic, not even a potential problem coming our way. Three days during which we could finally be a normal young couple.

"You're insane." I ended up whispering before getting up to embrace my parents in a quiet thank you.

The rest of the conversation happened in an overexcited blur. Everything went really fast. My mom calmed me down because I was feeling really anxious at the idea of leaving Liam, telling me that I could call them whenever I wanted to. She also reassured me about the fact I was finding all of this too big, telling me that she wasn't feeling forced to offer me gifts, and that she just wanted me to be happy. They had planned everything : The hotel, the trip, the money for the meals, and they didn't want to listen to us when we told them they didn't have to pay for the food in addition to all of that, telling us it was our honey moon and we didn't have to worry about anything.

Elsa was also in the room to say goodbye, what saddened me a bit between all this happiness, because I really didn't want my friend to go away once again. But as Arendelle's Queen, she was forced to go back to her land, and I was getting that perfectly. She however promised me to come back very quickly to meet the new little one joining the family, what made me smile again because I realized we wouldn't have to stay apart from each other for long now that we had the apprentice's wand.

And, just like that and after thanking them for the umpteenth time, we found ourselves alone in the house again, our sons staying with us. We explained to Liam what was going to happen, as Henry was watching us with a big smirk, finding all of this really funny and offering us to help us getting ready for the big departure. Guessing we wanted some time to discuss about this alone, Henry took his brother with him upstairs to beginning the preparation, and we heard them talking with each other while Liam was joyfully babbling at his brother's questions.

I turned back to Killian, who was still looking so amazed by what was happening, but who seemed pretty happy by the last news. He gently grabbed my waist to pull me closer to him, understanding that I was still feeling a bit confused, and I said while shaking my head :

"Do you think they've gone mad? It feels a bit too much, doesn't it?"

"It does." He admitted with a chuckle. "But we're certainly not going to complain about it."

"No, we're not." I said, giggling at his comment. "I just don't want them to feel forced to offer me anything because they haven't raised me..."

"They don't feel forced to do anything, darling, I can promise you that." He kindly reassured me. "They were both looking so happy about their surprise."

"You're probably right." I shrugged, before looking up to him to offer him a big grin. "Three days just for us, can you imagine?"

"I can't wait to spend all this time with you, love." He said, looking so glad by the twist our week was taking. "I couldn't be happier. It's going to be the best vacations of our lives"

And, without waiting for me to answer as I was about to tell him I loved him, he leaned forward to press a gentle kiss on my lips, offering me a preview of this trip that was going to be better than what I could ever have imagined.

* * *

 **So as you've probably guessed, the next few chapters will be about the honey moon! I hope you liked this chapter, and see you Friday! :)**


	30. Chapter 30

**Thanks to oncer4life11, Araya and Emilee Amethyst for the reviews! :)**

* * *

"Are you sure you haven't forgotten anything?" My dad asked, nervously taping against the wheel of my car.

"It's the fifth time you're asking us the same question, dad, it's going to be fine!" I laughed, seeing how anxious David was, and he winced at me as a kind revenge.

I giggled again and turned my head to look by the window, hiding a yawn behind my palm. The awakening had been pretty difficult, and I was still feeling quiet tired. If Liam had the amazing and exhausting faculty to be energetic as soon as he was waking up, taking this from his dad, who was always in a good mood from the moment he was opening his eyes, it wasn't my case at all, all the more that our night had been quite eventful once again. It was horribly early in the morning, and as I wasn't allowed to drink coffee because I was pregnant, I had to admit I hadn't woken up with a smile on my face. But, as always, Killian had managed to make me giggle with his jokes not long after I had gotten out of bed, and now that we were in the car, I was pretty eager to arrive in New York, even if I was still anxious thinking we had to leave Liam in Storybrooke without us for a few days. But the perspective of these days spent just the two of us, Killian and I, in the greatest city in the world, was making me so happy, and my heart was pounding quite fast in my chest because of my excitement.

We had just crossed the town line, and I looked at the Storybrooke sign disappearing into the mirror. My mom was driving David's truck, in which we had piled our bags up, and Henry was with her. My dad was behind the wheel of my yellow bug, and was looking pretty anxious at the thought something unexpected could happen to us before the big departure. Liam was joyfully babbling in his child car seat, and I glanced into the mirror again to look at Killian, who had his arms crossed over his chest and seemed pretty upset. He hadn't wanted to say anything when I had asked him to sit down next to our son, but I could see he didn't like being sandwiched on the backseat of the car that much. I pressed my lips together to stifle my laughter, and passed my hand behind my seat to pat his knee in a purposely mocking way. He looked up to me with an annoyed expression on his face, what made me smile for good. I turned back to look at him and raised my eyebrows in a teasing look :

"The trip is strating well if you're already cranky because of something."

"I'm not cranky." He mumbled with a pout that made me chuckle. "Your bloody car is just way too small for my legs."

"Well, maybe it's not my bug that is too small, but you who are to tall. And be a bit respectful toward my car, please. It didn't do anything to you."

He looked up to me, and didn't manage to keep his annoyed look for more than a few seconds by seeing my amused expression. I giggled noticing his eyes sparkling in amusment and his smile widening, liking as always these little teasing games between us. I turned back to look at the road again, and felt Killian's fingers grabbing my hand, that I had left on his knee, as his thumb was starting to gently stroke my skin.

We arrived at the bus station pretty quickly, and my entire family left the vehicles, joyfully chatting with each other, to take us to the bus that was already surrounded by a little crowd. In order not to draw attention to his hook, Killian had put back the prosthesis he was wearing when he had come to join me in New York all those years ago. He didn't seem to like being deprived of his hook that much, and was looking at his prosthesis in a suspicious way, as if it was about to jump at his throat and hurt him. It made me giggle once again, and I placed my hand on his lower back to ease him, as the touch of my fingers against his spine was managing to make him lose his grumpy look. My dad helped us to put our bags in the baggage compartment, and, just like that, we were ready to go.

As soon as he realized we were about to leave, Liam started to cry in big heartbreaking sobs, grabbing my leg to keep me close to him. I immediately took him into my arms with the sudden desire to take him with us in New York, because I couldn't stand seeing him so sad. But I also knew it was a very bad idea. It was our honey moon, the all point was for us to spend a few days alone together, and I had to leave my son with my parents, even if it was hard as hell. I then tried to comfort him as well as I could while his head was buried into the crook of my neck, myself feeling about to start sobbing with my little boy.

"It's going to be all right, baby, we'll only be gone for a few days, we'll come back before you know it, I promise. And you're going to stay with Grandma, Grandpa and Neal, you'll see, you're going to have a lot of fun..."

As he was still crying, Hook took him against him to try and ease him as well, but he didn't manage to calm our son's tears either. Liam grabbed his dad's shoulders as if he wanted to stop him from going, and was still uncontrollably sobbing. After a few minutes spent at trying to console him, without success, my dad ended up saying in a very gentle voice :

"Guys, the bus is going start off soon. You have to go, now..."

It only made our son sob even harder, and he cuddled a little bit deeper into Killian's arms. Deciding it was better not to extend the goodbyes, because it would only make things even worse and it was paining me as well to see our boy so sad, I forced myself to put a smile on my face and gently stroked Liam's cheek to say :

"We love you so, so much, Liam, but we have to go, now. I promise you we'll be back soon."

I then turned back to my family to take them all into my arms. My mom had taken Liam back against her, and he was looking at us, his beautiful eyes filled in with such sadness we could have throught we were the worst parents in the world and we had just betrayed him grandly. Still trying to swallow the lump that had formed into my throat in order not to start sobbing, I faced Henry and hugged him tight against my chest.

"Have fun." My son said with a big grin on his face as I was affectionately rubbing his back.

"Thanks kid." I sighted, pulling away from him to smile back at him. "Be careful while we're gone, okay?" I added as Hook was approaching Henry to briefly embrace him as well.

"Be safe, lad. And take good care of your brother for us,all right?" Killian said, pulling away from the hug and putting his hand on the small of my back to gently comfort me as he exactly knew how bad I was feeling.

"No problem, you know me." My son answered with a confident wink that made me smile a little bit.

I embraced him once again as a quiet thank you, and leaned forward to press one last kiss on Liam's forehead, Killian doing the same right after me. Kowing that if we didn't go now, things would get even more complicated, I turned back and walked into the bus, followed by Killian, who had intertwined his fingers with mine and was caressing my skin to try and reassure me a bit.

The places my parents had booked were in the middle of the bus. Hook settled next to the window, and I leaned to wave at my family one last time. I looked at Liam, who was still crying in my mom's arms as she was stroking his back to console him, and felt a little pinch of guilt just underneath my heart. Seeing my baby boy so sad was absolutely heartbreaking, and I would have done anything for him to feel better.

"Do you think he'll be all right? It's the first time we're leaving him for so long, I'm scared something will go wrong..." I asked, biting my lower lip and forcing myself to smile through the window in order not to worry Liam even more.

"Aw, darling, I'm anxious too." Killian gently said, wrapping his left arm around my shoulder to pull me closer to him and pressing a tender kiss on my temple. "But we don't have to worry. Liam will be absolutely fine. He couldn't be in better hands."

I nodded, knowing that he was right, and sighted to try and pull myself together. And only a few seconds later, the bus' doors closed, announcing the departure. Killian pulled me even closer to him, trying to comfort me, and I cuddled against his chest to enjoy his familiar touch, finally feeling a bit more relaxed. The bus started off a little while later, and I writhed to watch my family disappearing by the window. When they were out of sight, I turned back to Killian and smiled at him, even if I was still saddened by our baby boy's reaction. But I had to stop worrying. Liam was with my parents, nothing bad could happen to him, and if there was the slightest problem, I knew my mom would call me without even thinking twice about it. And it was our honey moon. We would only live this once, and we had to enjoy it.

"Ready for the big adventure?" Hook whispered to my ear.

I couldn't help but chuckle seeing his overexcited look, and I looked up to him to say, a bit teasingly, what made him laugh out loud :

"I've never been this ready in my entire life."

* * *

The bus was driving for several hours already, and we were half way to New York. Cuddled against Killian's chest, who had his left arm still wrapped around me, I had taken my shoes off to bend my legs underneath me and get more comfortable. One of my hand placed on my stomach, I was feeling the baby moving like a little devil, as if it was eager to finally arrive as well. I rubbed my eyes, trying to wake myself up a bit – I had ended up falling asleep, Killian's chest as a pillow, and I had stayed in that position for a couple of hours. I looked up to Hook, but he didn't seem to notice I was awake. Staring at the road scrolling underneath the bus' wheels, he was wearing my earbuds and was listening to my walkman, looking like he was lost in another world. He knew how the device worked, he was living in this world for quite a while now, but he had never had the time to use it for more than a few minutes in a row given all the issues we always had to deal with in our town, and it seemed to fascinate him. We had listened to a few songs together, what had allowed me to show him several of my favorites that were making me think about our story, but I had ended up leaving him the device to get some rest. A ray of sun was coming through the window and enlightening his side, making him even more handsome than usual. I didn't know which song he was listening to, but I could guess it was a special one, because I was hearing his heart beating faster than usual through his t-shirt.

I didn't want to bother him as he was looking so focused, and I looked down at my hands, still a bit amazed to see a wedding band shinning on it. The engagement ring Killian had given me two years ago was at my left hand, while I was wearing the golden wedding band representing our union at my right ring finger. We had decided to ignore the tradition, as he didn't have a left hand anymore and I wanted us to wear the ring at the same hand, as a symbol of the unbreakable bound we were sharing. A thought suddenly made its way through my mind, and I moved to quietly warn Killian I was awake and be able to talk to him. He however didn't seem to notice my subtle intervention, too far gone in his thoughts. I had an idea that made me smile, and I carefully took one of the earbuds out of his ear to whisper :

"Mister Jones."

He startled and turned back to look at me with a confused expression on his face, and I couldn't help myself but laugh out loud at his reaction. He winced as an answer, and took away the headphones, showing me by this gesture he was ready to listen to what I had to say. His prosthesis started to gently stroke my side as he was asking, the surprise gone :

"Are you awake for a long time?"

"Just a couple of minutes." I said, still laughing as I was unable to regain seriousness. "If only you had seen your face..."

"Stop mocking me!" He protested in a falsely upset tone.

I giggled and approached him to press a little peck on his lips as he was holding me close to him, kissing me a second time to extend our embrace. He ended up smiling as well, placing his forehead against my own for a few seconds, and his right hand gently landed on my baby bump as he was asking :

"Did the baby wake you up? It seemed to be moving a lot."

"It is. But I'm used to it by now, and I guess it means it's in good shape, so it's a good sign. I dondt' mind it. But I think the little one is eager to arrive as well." I shrugged with a little smile.

Suddenly feeling like someone was watching us, I turned my head to meet the eyes of a sixty-year-old woman, who was looking at us with a tenderized smile on her lips from the other side of the row. It was true that someone from the outside who didn't know our story and everyhting we had been through together, who didn't know we were literally true loves and who had no idea we were behaving like this every day could be amazed by how close we were. I smiled at her, but she looked away, blushing, as if she had been busted doing something she shouldn't have. I wanted to make her understand everything was okay, but I didn't have the time to extend the quiet dialogue I was sharing with her because Killian's voice brought me back to reality :

"You wanted to tell me something, beautiful?"

"Yeah." I said, turning to look at him with a little grin. "I've thought about it, and I think I won't take your last name. Emma Jones. It sounds a bit weird to me, you know? I think I'll take Emma Swan-Jones, though."

"As you wish, my darling" He said with half a smile. "Our kids are wearing both our names anyway, so you can do whatever you want. And can you imagine if I couldn't call you Swan anymore?" He added with a playful smirk.

"It would make everything different indeed." I laughed at his comment, before asking : "What were you listening to when I interrupted you? You were looking pretty moved."

He grabbed the walkman that was laying on his lap, and handed it to me to show me the title written in small letters on the white screen. In a voice that was a bit shaky because of the emotion, he stated :

"The lyrics made me think about us. It was a bit strange. But very beautiful."

A bit intrigued by his words, I looked down to read what was shinning on the little screen, and smiled when I discovered the title of the mysterious song, feeling tears forming in my eyes, because he was so damn right : _The words- Chistina Perri._

This story in which two lovers weren't able to tell the other how they were feeling because they were scared of getting hurt again. They were afraid of getting heartbroken, and of everything changing. Those fears I had myself experienced all those years ago. But telling Killian what I was feeling for him was probably the best decision I had ever taken in my life, and I was so happy to now share my life with this wonderful, amazing, caring man. I then looked up to meet his gaze, and stated in a low voice, really moved by our conversation.

"You know, babe, I'm not scared anymore." I said, looking straight into his eyes. "I love you."

He leaned forward to kiss me, first on my lips, then on the top of my head and he pulled me so close to him I could hear his heart beating at a breakneck speed in his chest. I could sense he was deeply touched by my statement, and his eyes were sparkling in such a beautiful way I wanted to start kissing him breathlessly, right there in the middle of the bus.

"I know it, now." He finally answered, hugging me very tight. "I love you so much too, my love."

We spent the remaining part of the journey cuddled against one another.

* * *

The journey lasted for seven hours, and we arrived in New York in the middle of the afternoon. I was pretty happy to be able to get out of the bus and stretch my legs, the few pauses we had taken being way too short to me. I was still pretty tired, but so glad to be there I forgot everything about my exhaustion as soon as I stepped out of the vehicle. The sun was shinning in the sky of the Big Apple, and when we got into the street, the characteristics noises and smells of the greatest city in the world completely filled me up, dragging me in its such peculiar atmosphere. The car horns, the screams of the people calling after one another, the streets vendors yelling to draw the walkers' attention, the smells of food and pollution, the people rushing into each other because they were all in a hurry. I glanced at Killian to see how he was handling all of this : he had come to New York before, sure, but I wanted to make sure he was okay with this atmosphere so different from Storybrooke's. He smiled at me, took my hand, and whispered to my ear :

"I had almost forgotten how noisy this city was."

I smiled back at him, relieved to see he was taking the change well, and keeping his hand in mine, we walked to go and get our bags back. Ten minutes later, we found ourselves utterly lost in the middle of a crowded street, him carrying a bag on his shoulder, me dragging a suitcase behind me while trying to avoid the people almost rushing me on their way.

"Your parents said the hotel wasn't far away from the bus stop." Killian mumbled, looking all around him to try and find the right way to the hotel. "This is insane, I've been piloting a ship for dozens of years, I should be able to know where we are in this bloody city."

"Yeah, except that _not being far_ , in this bloody city as you say, it is very vague." I answered with one of my eyebrow raised, somewhat amused by his comment.

One of my hand raised to protect my eyes from the sun, I spinned on myself to try and at least know in which street we actually were. The trip was starting well if we were already lost. After another minute, Hook poked my shoulder to draw my attention, and asked :

"There is a big building right there. Do you think it can be our hotel?"

I shrugged, deciding we weren't risking anything by taking a look at it, and we crossed the road to find ourselves facing what seemed like a huge luxury hotel. I looked up to read the name of the building, and stayed speechless before what I was seeing. It was hard to believe, but we were actually supposed to sleep in there.

"Do you think your parents have gone insane?" Killian asked in awe, his eyes raised toward the top of the building that seemed to be touching the sky.

"I really don't know, but if I'm sure of one thing, it's that I've never approached something this luxurious in my entire life." I stated, my eyes widened in surprise.

"We're going to look so awkward in there." He relevantly said.

"It can be fun." I answered with a smile, and he let go of a chuckle at my words.

I grabbed Killian's hand to take him with me as the doorman was opening the door for us so we could go in. Inside, the floor was marbled and the ceiling was so high it was making me dizzy. We approached the reception a bit shyly, where a young woman told us our room was on the third floor. Still carrying our bags, we walked into the elevator to discover where we were going to sleep, quietly laughing because all of this was definitely way too much for us.

The room was more spacious and welcoming than my apartment had ever been back when I was leaving in Boston. We took the time to call my parents and tell them we were arrived at the hotel, and we talked a little bit with Liam, who seemed to have calmed down since we had gone and was looking like he was having a lot of fun with Neal. After the phone call, I changed myself to swap my shirt for a light tunic more appropriate for the hot weather that was reigning over the place. I sighted in happiness, eager to finally show everything I knew about this marvelous city to the man I loved.

As I was leaning to take my sunglasses in my bag, I felt Killian wrapping his arms around my waist, and I turned to look at him in a questioning expression. He didn't say anything, and started to kiss me passionately, as I was moaning against his mouth. I didn't try to resist, happy to feel his body against mine again, but when I found myself sitting on the bed as he was attacking my neck, I kindly pulled away with a smile to say, while his fingers were stroking my back and giving me the shiver :

"Easy, tiger. We'll have all the time in the world for that tonight, but it would be a pity to miss such a beautiful afternoon, don't you think?"

He stared at me in a vaguely disappointed way, and I pulled him closer to press another kiss on his lips and made him smile again. And then, without waiting any longer, I got off the bed and dragged him behind me to make him get out of the room, ignoring his confused expression and so excited about this trip that was definitely starting very well.

* * *

 **See you monday for another part about the honey moon! :)**


	31. Chapter 31

**Thanks to oncer4life11 , Emilee Amethyst, Kelly and Araya for the reviews!**

* * *

"Okay, now that we're here, what do you want to do?" Killian asked once we found ourselves in the street.

Hand in hand, we were walking through the crowd, taken away by this special atmosphere that was always reigning in the town that never sleeps. His fingers were woven together with mine, as if they had always been meant to be in that position. His thumb was gently stroking my skin as the sun of August was pleasantly warming the back of my neck. This trip was definitely starting very well.

"Eat, because I'm starving!" I answered, turning back to look at him with a little smirk, and he burst out laughing.

"So that's why you didn't want to stay in the room, your plan has been revealed, princess." He gently teased me, poking my shoulder. "Are you having any cravings?"

I took the time to answer in order to know exactly what I wanted. While watching all around me, my eyes met the stand of a street vendor, who was standing a few feet ahead of us. The smell of food reached me, and the baby gave a little kick, telling me that it was hungry as well and these fragances were pleasing it a lot. I turned back to Killian with a big smile, and asked, realizing we had never eaten what I was craving for right now together :

"Have you already tasted a hot-dog?"

"A what?" He said, raising a questioning eyebrow at me.

"I knew that wasn't the kind of food we could get at Granny's!" I laughed, dragging him behind me. "Come, you'll see what I'm talking about."

He followed me, looking a bit intrigued by my behavior, but stopped right before getting in front of the vendor. I turned back to look at him, surprised, and he gave me a skeptic look when he saw what the trolley was looking like. Not seeming convinced at all by my idea, he said in a concerned tone :

"Swan, are you sure this is good for the baby? I don't want to upset you, but it doesn't seem really… healthy."

"Come on!" I encouraged him with a big smile, tenderized by the fact he was worrying for such an unimportant thing. "It's not like I was eating that every day. We are on vacation. And this is what Peanut wants, look."

I drove his hand to my baby bump and he rested it on my stomach as our child was moving like a little devil inside of me. He laughed, gently stroking my belly with his thumb, looking quite amused by the baby's behavior. After a few seconds of silence, he ended up saying, shaking his head :

"Okay, you won. But you're two against me, this isn't fair."

"You at least need to taste this once in your life." I added, taking him with me to the vendor, and he let me do this time. "I promise you it's worth it."

He didn't try to protest again but, when he found himself with his hot-dog in his hand two minutes later, he was looking like he was regretting his decision a lot. He looked at me with a little wince from above his lunch, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop my laughter .

"You know it's not going to jump at your throat and kill you, right?" I scoffed after biting in my own hot-dog with a great appetite, and the baby finally calmed down, visibly satisfied by my choice of food.

"Are you sure this is eatable?" He replied, staring at me like I was coming from another planet.

"Hook, you just saw me eating it." I said, raising a falsely annoyed eyebrow at him.

"Apologize if I don't trust your pregnant lady's cravings. I'm starting to get used to that, and I know your choice of meal can be very strange."

I poked his shoulder as a kind revenge, what made him laugh out loud. I couldn't help but chuckle as well, and after a few minutes spent at annoying me about my choice, he ended up accepting to taste the hot-dog.

"Mmm." He finally stated with half a smile. "I have to admit it isn't that bad after all."

"See?!" I shouted in happiness. "Maybe next time you'll decide to listen to me instead of protesting for so long!"

While giggling, he leaned forward and pressed a quick peck on my lips, as my smile was widening even more. And then, still in this amazing good mood, we started to walk together in the streets of New York.

* * *

We were walking for hours in the streets of the Big Apple, and I was starting to get really tired. I was pretty good at sports, and I was used to physical efforts with all the monsters we always had to fight in Storybrooke, but I had to be honest with myself : I was six and a half month pregnant, the baby's weight was starting to get pretty heavy, and I had to be careful it was staying safe. I was then about to ask Killian for a pause, gently squeezing his hand in mine, but he started to talk before I had a chance to tell him what I wanted and said with a concerned look on his face :

"You look tired, love."

"I was just about to ask you to stop for a couple of minutes" I laughed, once again amazed by how connected we always were.

"Do you want to sit down for a bit?"

I nodded and smiled at him so he wouldn't get too worried, and looked around me to find somewhere to settle. Luckily, there was a low wall hidden in the shadow of a big building not far from where we were standing, and I immediately got pleasantly cooled down when I sat down on it. I took off the little backpack I was carrying with me and took the bottle of water I had put in it to drink a few long sips from it. I then looked up to notice Killian was staring at me like I was about to pass out, and I said with a giggle :

"Don't look at me like that, I'm tired, not sick."

"Are you sure you're okay?" He resumed, ignoring my teasing and gently tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "You look very pale."

"Hey, babe, don't worry." I reassured him, regaining seriousness when I realized he was genuinely worried. "I'm fine."

He didn't seem to feel that convinced about my statement, and carried on running his hand through my hair with a deeply worried look on his face. Wanting to show him I was honestly feeling great, I added with a little smile, placing a hand on my stomach :

"It's just that the little one is taking a lot of place, you know."

He quietly laughed and placed his hand over mine on my bump. He then leaned forward to press a gentle kiss on my forehead, and I closed my eyes, enjoying this quiet moment. I was so happy to be in this town with him, and the three days there were coming were going to be simply wonderful, I could tell.

"Do you feel good enough to carry on walking today?" He asked, driving me away from my thoughts. "If you don't, we can go and eat something, we can visit tomorrow."

"I'm okay." I shrugged. "I promise you I'm all right, I just needed some rest."

I was about to continue my sentence when my eyes met a board announcing an underground station not too far away from where we were settled. An idea suddenly emerged in my mind, and I asked, lifting my chin up to look at him in the eyes with a gentle smile :

"Do you know what a subway is?"

"Huh?" He answered with the lost expression he always had when I was talking about something he knew nothing about.

"You absolutely need to try this once!" I cried out without answering his question, suddenly getting back on my feet to take him by the hand, all my energy back.

He didn't protest, looking pretty intrigued once again, but once we found ourselves standing in front of the underground station, he stopped to ask, looking utterly perplexed :

"Where are you taking me?"

"It's a subway station." I explained, quite amused by the fact he didn't know this invention that had always been a part of my life. "It's like a bus, but underground."

"Are you sure it's safe?" He asked, his eyes widening as he was looking pretty worried by my last statement.

"Of course it is!" I laughed, rolling my eyes. "Do you trust me?"

He nodded without even thinking about his answer, but carefully looked at the stairs that were sinking into the ground and into which people were walking with an amazing confidence. It was still office hours, but the town was full of tourists and citizens going god knows where, all looking in a hurry. The underground was then far from being empty. After staring at the ballet of back and forth for a couple of seconds, Hook ended up smiling at me to show me he was ready, and we walked down the stairs, my hand still in his so we wouldn't lose each other in the crowd.

"Where are we going?" he asked once we arrived in front of the turnstiles.

I thought for a couple of seconds about an answer, and looked at him from the corner of my eyes. He was looking pretty tensed because of all these people rushing into one another, and was still holding my hand tight, as if he was scared I would disappear. I didn't have to search for a long time before finding our destination : Central park. We absolutely had to go to this famous place while we were in town, but, more importantly, I was convinced that a little bit of grass would make him feel better and would remind him of Storybrooke. I then smiled at him and moved to wrap my arms around his chest, lifting my chin up to look at him in the eyes.

"It's a surprise." I said with a purposely mysterious look.

My comment made him smile. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pressed a little kiss on my lips before I placed my head on his shoulder. We stayed cuddled for a little while, enjoying this unexpected embrace, before I pulled away to go and buy our tickets.

After a brief moment of confusion as Killian had no idea how to use the turnstiles, we ended up finding ourselves inside the station, where the crowd was almost running to join the good platforms. I felt Hook's hand squeezing mine even more as I was leading him to our destination, and I tried to reassure him by gently stroking his skin with my thumb so he wouldn't get to worried by all these people walking in this tiny place.

Once arrived on the platform, I winced seeing the amount of people bunching in such little space. I hadn't imagined for a second the underground would be that crowded, and I placed my free hand on my stomach, a bit worried at the idea I wouldn't be able to bear the heat that was without a doubt going to reign in the wagon. As if he had read my mind, Killian started talking in a concerned tone :

"Is there usually that many people here?"

"I think I chose the wrong hour." I admitted with a little shrug.

He winced as an answer, and the noises of the train grunting inside the tunnel rang against the walls. I turned to look at Killian, who had stiffened a bit hearing this unusual sound, that could seem a bit threatening as he didn't know anything about the subway. I said with a little sight, intertwining our fingers together :

"Get ready to be rushed"

Once the doors were open, I noticed with surprise that the passengers were standing aside to let me go first. Amazed by this unexpected politeness, I smiled and managed to make my way to the end of the wagon where, as I had guessed it, there weren't any sitting places left. Killian, looking a bit suspiciously at all these people bunched into such a tiny space, imitated me by grabbing a bar, right on time so he didn't fall over when the train started off.

"Bloody hell." He mumbled, frowning in confusion.

"Welcome to the modern world." I gently teased him. "I was taking the subway every day back when I was living in New York, you know."

"How have you been able to stand this thing for months?" He asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"We get used to it." I laughed, placing my free hand on my stomach, trying to keep my living space while staying on my feet at the same time as the vehicle was moving quite violently.

"Are you going to be all right, on your feet like that?" He worried, wrapping his arm around my waist to discreetly help me.

"This is a short trip, don't worry. I'll be okay." I reassured him, right before a voice on my right made me turn.

"Do you want to sit down, miss?" A young girl with long black hair asked.

She was around twenty years old, and had an amazingly gentle expression on her face. She looked up to me with her two beautiful dark eyes, looking like she was impatiently waiting for my answer :

"That's sweet." I declined, smiling at her as a quiet thank you. "but I'm fine, we're only here for a short while."

"With the heat wave, maybe it's not a good idea to make efforts, you know." She kindly insisted.

"The lass is right, Swan." Killian, who had listened to our conversation, added.

Without giving me the time to refuse her offer once again, the young girl got up with a smile, and I settled at her place while warmly thanking her. I hadn't wanted to bother her, but I had to admit that between the stifling heat and the baby's weight, I was feeling much better sitting down than on my feet. I smiled at my benefactress once again, who answered by a kind nod, and Killian leaned forward to say in awe :

"I didn't know people were that nice in big cities."

"Me neither." I sincerely answered. "and I've lived here for a year, so I should know."

"You know what? As a resolution, I propose we try to raise our kids like that, because it's a good example to follow."

His comment made me smile as I was imagining our sons, who were always so kind and polite, and I relevantly answered :

"I think we're on a good path, because Henry and Liam are adorable."

He smiled as well, and the rest of the journey happened quite calmly. Killian was looking relieved I wasn't standing up anymore, and our conversation started to get lighter. I ended up getting up a few seconds before arriving to our destination and as, hand in hand, we were heading for the doors, the young girl who had left me her place said with an amazing honesty :

"You're forming a wonderful couple."

Surprised, I didn't have the time to answer that we were already down on the platform, and the train was going away with its familiar grunt. I stayed still for a few seconds, not really knowing how to react. I hadn't expected this declaration at all, and I was feeling very confused.

"Don't look that surprised, love." Hook whispered to my ear with laughter in his voice. "She's right, you know."

I turned back to him, shaking my head in amusement, and, together, we walked up the stairs to finally join the outside.

* * *

"Welcome to Central Park." I stated with a big smile once we were arrived into the huge garden.

"In case you've forgotten about it, I've already been here before." He teased, arching a eyebrow. "You even chained me to a bloody bench, if you remember correctly."

"I didn't have my memories anymore, so this time doesn't count." I defended myself as we were walking in one of the numerous paths of the park, biting my lower lip in order not to start laughing.

"So you're finally pleading guilty for the rest!" He kindly scoffed. "Between the giant's den and the hospital bed, I know things about you."

"And after everything we've been through, we're now married with two kids and a third on its way." I said with a giggle

"We come so far." He added, smiling as well.

With the marvelous weather that had taken over the town, the park was absolutely crowded. We took the time to buy bagels to a street vendor before managing to find a little place less staffed than the rest of Central Park. We sat down on the grass, our backs against a tree, to eat our sweets and enjoy the heat of the sun on our skins. After a few minutes, I found myself cuddled against his chest, my legs above his, as he had put his left arm around me and had placed his hand on my stomach.

"I can't wait to see the baby." He said, as our child was giving a slight kick.

"I'm the same." I answered with a smile, my head placed against his shoulder. "I can't wait to know if it's a boy or a girl too."

"Maybe we should start searching for ideas for the name, don't you think?" He offered, gently stroking my bump through my tunic.

"We still have time for that." I shrugged. "And, I don't know, I feel like things are going to be exactly like for Liam : when we'll see it, the name will come on its own."

He suddenly approached me to kiss every inches of my face, ending his path on the tip of my nose, and I burst out laughing. Sometimes, I was so amazed by the bound we were sharing that, far from disappearing through the years, was even stronger than before. We were so in love, and I would never have thought I would be lucky enough to live this kind of story when Neal had left a 17-year-old me in jail. But Killian had managed to make me trust the future, he had always supported me no matter what, and I knew our lives together were going to be so beautiful.

"I love you," I whispered, looking straight into his eyes.

He smiled, placed his forehead against my own, his hand going up to cup my neck as his prosthesis was still in the small of my back. He whispered with pure gentleness, almost against my lips as our noses were brushing against one another.

"I love you too, darling."

We stayed isolated together in our little bubble of happiness for a long while, and it's a drop of rain that hit my leg that made me join reality again. Intrigued, I looked up to the sky to realize the clear blue color had clouded, right when the thunder started to rumble not that far from us. Looking all around me, I noticed the park had emptied itself, and I wondered how the hell we had managed to not realize a storm was coming.

"I think a good storm is coming our way." Killian said, answering my thoughts, his head titled to look at the sky, right when the rain started to pour with such strength that we got drenched in a few seconds.

I shivered because of a drop that'd had the bad idea to enter my t-shirt through my collar, and was now rolling down the skin of my back. Killian looked down to his drenched clothes, and I couldn't help but giggle seeing how outraged he looked.

"You're not better than I am, you know." He defended himself, running his hand through my wet hair.

"Maybe we should try to find a shelter before one of us get sick." I offered, and he nodded with a little smile.

He reached for my hand to help me get up, and we ran in the rain, laughing without managing to stop because of this so unexpected situation. We ended up finding a little cabin, lost in a corner of the park, that was probably used to watch the birds and the squirrels peacefully. I entered the room first, and Killian closed the wooden door behind him, isolating us from the wind that was blowing in violent gusts.

It was dark in the cabin. I looked down to notice the damages, and realized my drenched tunic was sticking to my skin, while my hair dripping with cold water was making me shiver. I started to shake, my teeth clashing into my mouth, and wrapped my arms around myself to try and be a little bit warmer.

"Are you cold?" Killian worried, approaching me.

He didn't even give me the time to answer, and took off his jacket to place it on my shoulders. I laughed, wrapping the clothes around me, wondering how he was doing to always bear this jacket no matter how hot it was outside. I answered in a teasing tone :

"Thanks, but without wanting to upset you, your jacket is wet as well."

He chuckled at my comment and pulled me into a tight embrace, quite enjoyable solution to my problem. I buried my face into the crook of his neck, his also drenched hair dripping on my cheeks :

"Are you warmer that way?" He asked, rubbing my back.

"Not that much, but I like that position." I replied, what made him giggle once again.

The water that was falling on the cabin's roof was making a terrible din. Outside, we couldn't even see three feet ahead of us because of the rain and the wind, and the thunder was rumbling in a threatening way. I was ready to bet that the park was now completely empty, and the storm was going to last for a while. After a little time spent at trying to warm me up, Hook pulled away from me and started to kiss me, first gently, then more and more passionately. I decided to follow his lead, letting his jacket fall on the floor of our shelter, but stopped him when his hand started to pass underneath my tunic.

"I want this as much as you do, believe me, but this isn't very private." I stated, placing both my hands on his chest.

"We're lost in a cabin in the middle of the woods, Swan." He countered, running his hand through my hair. "We can hardly find more private."

"Imagine of someone walks in here and finds us like that." I said, amused by his comment.

"Who could come here in the middle of a storm?"

"Hikers searching for a shelter, just like us."

"Okay." He surrendered, pulling away from me. "If it's the only thing that's troubling you."

I stared at him looking all around the place, wondering what he had in mind, and understood his intentions when he walked toward the only piece of furniture in the room – a bench placed in the corner of the cabin, that was allowing the visitors to get some rest – and dragged it toward the door, placing it in front of it and forbidding anyone to enter the shelter. He then turned to look at me with a little smirk and stated :

"You okay like that?"

"Very well." I said, approaching him. "I have to say I'm pretty eager to take off these wet clothes"

He laughed, and we resumed our kisses even more passionately than we had done before.

* * *

We stayed for hours cuddled against each other, in this cabin lost in the middle of Central Park. The rain had slightly calmed down, but we hadn't paid attention to it, too lost in our little world. I hadn't seen the time pass, and was surprised to realize the sun was already setting in the sky when I turned my head to look by the little window.

"We should go." I whispered, my head buried into the crook of his neck.

We were both sitting against a wall, wrapped in such a tight embrace that I didn't know where he was beginning and where I was ending anymore. He let go of a little grunt and kissed my neck, as if he wanted me to change my mind.

"It's still raining outside." He noticed, looking by the window as well, pulling me even closer to his chest.

"Yeah, I know, but if we don't go now, it will be too late and we won't find anywhere to eat. And, even if I know you're going to mock me about the fact the pregnancy makes me hungry, I am starving."

He smiled, and ran his hand through my hair one last time before getting on his feet, finally convinced by my comment. As the good gentleman he always was, he reached for my hand to help me get up, and we quickly picked up the clothes that were still scattered on the floor – my shoes, my jeans, his shirt and his jacket, that he wrapped around me, refusing to put it on himself. And then, hand in hand, we finally got out of our shelter to face the little unpleasant rain that was still falling from the sky to tingle our faces.

The park was completely empty. In the streets, the citizens were bunching under big umbrellas, walking fast to avoid getting too wet. We walked in front of several restaurants, but they weren't accepting any new clients anymore : it was 10 p.m. after all, and we had gotten out of the cabin way too late. We ended up walking into a little Italian restaurant, lost in the middle of a big street, our clothes and hair wet because of the rain. There were still people in the main room, and for a moment, we had the hope to finally be able to eat something, but the owner, a forty-something woman, ended up approaching us with a sheepish look on her face :

"I'm sorry, but the kitchens have just closed a few minutes ago."

I saw Killian's face falling in despair, and I had to admit I was myself quite disappointed by these news. The smell of bread and tomato sauce that was floating in the air was making me even hungrier, and the baby was furiously kicking in my stomach, as if it was starving as well. I gently squeezed Hook's hand to ease him and forced myself to politely smile at the woman facing us :

"Don't worry, thanks anyway. Come on, let's go." I added, trying to take Killian with me to go out under the rain again.

"Are you sure you can't make an exception?" He asked, staying on his feet so I wasn't able to drag him behind me.

"Killian!" I cried out, surprised as I hadn't expected him to insist. "We're too late, it's our fault if nothing is open anymore."

"But..."

"No." I gently cut him off. "I'm hungry, I'm not sick. You don't have to worry, we'll end up finding somewhere to eat. We still have the hotel's room service, even if it's going to be quite expensive. At the worst, a fast food must still be open somewhere."

"I'm not sure this is very good for the baby." He said with a suspicious frown.

"It's not like I'm doing this every day, babe. Come on..."

He was looking like he was finally ready to listen to me, but, at my greatest surprise, the owner, who had listened to our conversation with a little amused smile on her face, called us back as we were about to get out of the place :

"No, wait."

I turned back to look at her in surprise, wondering what had gotten into her, and saw that her eyes were staring at my baby bump. She had probably not noticed I was pregnant before, because of Hook's jacket, too wide for me, that was hiding my curves. She suddenly placed a hand on my forearm and said in an almost maternal way :

"Stay, I'll make this work."

"You've just said the kitchens were closed. We don't want to bother you..."

"I'm not going to leave a pregnant woman out there, starving under the rain! I'll make you something to eat myself if I have to." She said, looking very confident about this statement.

"We really don't want to annoy you..." I started, afraid at the idea she was feeling forced to make us something.

"The only thing annoying me right now is your protestations. Follow me, now. I won't accept a rejection."

I felt my eyes widening, surprised by the bossy tone she had used to talk, and shared a look with Killian, who was looking quite amazed by what was happening to us. Giving up on the idea of protesting once again – I had to admit the offer was pretty tempting, because I was really starving – I let her guide us into the main room. She made us sit down at a little table in a corner of the restaurant, and without giving us the time to thank her, she headed for the kitchens with quick steps. I turned to look at Hook and said, completely confused :

"Wow, well, that was nice."

"People are surprisingly polite with us when you are pregnant." He said with a little smile.

"I'm certainly not going to complain, because Peanut looks very mad." I laughed, placing my hand on my stomach to try and calm its violent kicks down.

Hook laughed as well and grabbed my free hand to woven our fingers together above the checked tablecloth. A couple of minutes later, the owner came back with some bread and the menus, which she placed in front of us with a kind smile. We didn't take long to choose, and after going away again for a few more minutes, our benefactress came back to us :

"I haven't had the time to introduce myself." She said with a big, warm smile. "I'm Serena."

"I'm Emma." I answered, still surprised by how sweet she was with us. "And this is Killian."

"Are you from far away?"

"No." I answered, my fingers still intertwined with Hook's. "We are from Maine."

"You're here for a special occasion?"

"It's our honey moon." Killian explained, gently running his thumb against the skin of my palm in a pleasant stroke.

"Oh, you've just gotten married!" She cried out, as if it was the news of the century. "Congratulations! And congratulations for the baby! When are you due?"

"Around the half of November." I said, placing my hand on my bump again.

"What, already?! You barely seem pregnant!" She shouted, looking utterly scandalized. "You need to eat, you know!"

"Oh, don't worry, she does." Killian kindly joked.

I gave him a little kick under the table as a revenge, what made him laugh out loud. He resumed gently stroking my hand, and I let go of a little sight of pleasure, so happy to find myself there, with him. Serena chuckled as well before starting to talk again :

"Is it your first one?"

"No." I answered, shaking my head. "It's my third."

"You already have two kids?" She said, looking deeply surprised, her eyes widened in disbelief.

"Yeah, well, the eldest, Henry, isn't my biological son." Killian explained with a little shrug. "But I almost see him every day, so he's like my own."

"This is wonderful, because it's so rare to see two people still loving each other so much after so many years spent together." She said with an amazed smile.

"We've been through a lot together."Killian then answered.

I pressed my lips together to avoid laughing, aware that Serena had no idea we had literally fought and won against death more than once. Killian raised an eyebrow at me, pretty proud of this private joke, and Serena smiled, looking tenderized by how close we were :

"I'll leave you two to it." She stated. "It's coming right away."

She hadn't lied to us : two minutes later, a huge plate fill in with spaghetti and meatballs was laying in front of me. We took the time to gratefully thank Serena, and I had to force myself to stay polite and not start eating right away, because my stomach growling was really starting to bug me.

The meal happened in a very good atmosphere, and the food was literally delicious. The restaurant was emptying gradually, and we ended up being the only ones who kept on eating. We hurried to finish and not bother Serena too much, as she had already been way too sweet with us.

"How was it?" She came to ask us when we had finished

"It was prefect." Killian answered with a smile. "We're going to go now, we've already bothered you way too much..."

"You should take a desert, you know!" She offered with a huge smile. "I'm offering!"

"That's sweet, but I couldn't eat another bite." I answered, wondering why this woman we were knowing for less than an hour was so nice with us.

"That wasn't a question." She said with in suddenly serious tone. "You're the skinniest pregnant woman I've ever seen, I have to change that!"

I burst out laughing, utterly surprised, and she didn't accept any of our following protestations. That's how Killian and I found ourselves eating a huge Italian ice cream, both laughing because of the owner's comments. This evening that had started pretty badly as we had thought we would never find a place to eat was definitely ending very well.

We ended up leaving Serena, warmly thanking her – and leaving her a generous tip – as she was wishing us the best, telling us, as the young girl in the metro before her, that we were forming a wonderful couple. Full, Killian and I got in the street, hand in hand. Outside, the rain had finally stopped, and it was beginning to warm up a bit. Smiling, we were walking fast, suddenly eager to go join our hotel and found ourselves in each other's arms once again.

* * *

 **See you Friday for the last part of the honey moon!**


	32. Chapter 32

**thanks to oncer4life11, Emilee Amethyst and Araya for the reviews! :)**

* * *

I got awakened by a ray of sun that came through the window to tickle my closed eyelids, and slightly blinded me on its way. I however didn't open my eyes right away, still half-asleep and refusing to leave this state of deep ease I was in right away. I rolled on my side to escape the light and bent my naked legs to my chest with a little frustrated grunt. I immediately heard Killian giggling next to me, and opened an eye to realized he was laying on his side, his head on his hand to lift his face up and look at me more easily.

"Two questions : why are you laughing, and why are you staring at me like that? You're almost creepy." I said in a still sleepy voice, as always in a bad mood after waking up.

"Because you're adorable, and most certainly the most beautiful woman to ever exist on this planet."

"I just woke up, I'm not pretty." I protested with a little wince, trying not to smile at his sweet comment.

"That's not true, you're gorgeous." He replied with a big grin, his eyes sparkling with pure love as he was still staring at me.

"Now that I think about it, I have a third question : why are you always in such a good mood in the morning? It should be illegal."

"Because, unlike you, I've always had the habit of waking up with the sun." He gently mocked me, laughing because of my teasing. "And also because, technically speaking, it's not really the morning anymore."

Triggered by this unexpected statement, I made an effort to roll on my back and glance at the alarm clock laying on the night table next to my head. I realized with surprise that it was more than 11 a.m., and I covered my face with my hands, letting go of a disapproving grunt :

"Fuck, Killian, why haven't you woken me up sooner?"

"Because you were looking sound asleep, I didn't want to bother you." He answered, looking a bit surprised because of my reaction. "And you needed the rest, we went to bed pretty late last night." He added, raising an eyebrow at me with a pout that finally made me smile.

The room was indeed covered with the remains of our night : our clothes were scattered all around the floor and the furniture, and he was still bare chest while I hadn't bothered to put on pants, and was only wearing panties and a wide shirt, his arms sufficient to keep me warm during the night.

"Why is it bothering you so much you're waking up that late?" He resumed with a questioning look.

"Because the hotel only serves breakfast until ten, you idiot." I replied, half laughing at the puppy face he offered me when he heard the name I had used to call him.

"So what? We'll find somewhere else to eat." He shrugged, not looking that triggered by my statement.

"Yeah, but we have to find this place. It's gonna take some time, and we still have to get up, and dress… and I'm hungry." I admitted.

"You're always hungry." He gently scoffed, but he was at the same time looking quite tenderized by my comment.

"Tell that to the baby." I replied, what made him laugh even louder.

I ended up smiling as well, unable to keep my falsely mad look with him, and he moved to sit on my legs, starting to gently kiss my lips, what made me moan in pleasure as our tongues were finding each others. I giggled through our kisses, quite happy by this sudden twist, but I gently pushed him away after a few more minutes, panting a little bit :

"We're certainly not going to go faster like that."

"We're already late, so a few more minutes are not going to change anything." He smiled with a charming look.

"We both know it's going to take more than a few minutes."

He chuckled and attacked my collarbone without paying attention to my comment. This time, and despite my hunger, I didn't try to push him away again and wrapped one of my legs around his waist to pull him closer to me, tilting my head as the touch of his tongue against the thin skin of my neck was making me groan in pleasure.

* * *

A little bit more than an hour later, we were settled in a diner not so far from our hotel, a mountain of pancakes laying between us on our little table. The good weather was back, that day, and the sun was beautifully shining, bringing with it this specific atmosphere that was always reigning in the Big Apple, this same atmosphere I was liking so much as it was bringing back memories from the time I had spent here with Henry. Except that this time, things were a thousand times better than they were back then : I had my real memories, a family I loved more than anything in the world, a wonderful husband that was making me so happy. Life could sometimes take unexpected turns, and I was so glad I wasn't alone anymore. The lost little girl had so many people she could count on now, Killian had managed to bring her back home, and I was happier than I had been my entire life.

I laughed when I noticed that Hook was staring at his meal wit a suspicious expression, his brows together as if the food was going to jump at his throat. He was detailing the pancakes with attention, and barely looked up when he heard my mocking laughter. I raised an eyebrow at him and said with a teasing smile :

"I promise it won't hurt you."

"Yeah, well let me doubt it." He mumbled, looking far from being convinced by my statement.

"These are pancakes, babe!" I insisted, still giggling. "We've eaten that breakfast hundreds of times at Granny's!"

"They don't look the same." He replied, his arms crossed over his chest, and he was reminding me of a kid refusing to eat his vegetables, even if I knew deep down he was overreacting on purpose to make me laugh.

"It's because you have to put maple syrup on it." I explained, taking the jar that was laying between us to illustrate my words.

Seeing that he wasn't reacting, I started to put syrup on his breakfast, purposely leaving the jar above the pancakes for way too long so his sweets were drowning in sugar. He looked up to me with a deeply offended look, and I burst out laughing, covering my mouth with my hands to try not to make too much noise, feeling tears of joy appearing in my eyes.

"This is not funny, you know." He protested, but the little grin he couldn't stop from spreading on his lips was denying his words.

"It actually is. You should have seen your face..." I laughed, half choking because I was giggling too hard.

"Okay, go ahead, mock me, but I'll find a way to get my revenge." He stated with an eyebrow raised, what made me laugh even louder as I knew all too well he wasn't thinking a word of what he was saying.

"I have no doubts about that." I said before leaning above the table to press a quick peck on his lips, what made him smile for good as he was pulling me closer to him for a second kiss, extending our embrace.

The rest of the meal happened in a great mood, as every moment we had spent together since we had arrived. After getting out of the diner, we walked a little bit in the city, enjoying the heat that was gently stroking our skins without being disturbing either. I ended up stopping in front of an antique shop, that was a bit hidden as it was stuck between a big building and a restaurant, and I started to carefully examine the shop window, suddenly interested by what I was seeing.

"Do you mind if I go take a look?" I said after a few minutes, turning to look at Killian as I was still holding his hand. "I'd like to find something to bring to the kids, and maybe they have interesting stuffs here."

"Of course I don't mind, love." He said, following me into the little shop with a small smile on his lips.

After a few minutes spent at snooping around the shelves, that were all containing items I was finding fascinating as they were looking like they were coming right from a picture book, I ended up revealing a limited edition of the _A thousand and one nights_ book and told myself that, given his passion for reading, it would probably please Henry. I turned to Killian, who was staring at a replica of a ship strangely looking like the Jolly Roger, and asked for his opinion :

"Do you think Henry would like that?" I said, handing him the yellowed pages.

He approached me and leafed through the book with a great attention, smiling several times as he was glancing at the images, and he finally gave me the item back, stating :

"I'm sure he will be more than happy with it."

From that moment, and as I couldn't seem to find a clear explanation about this behavior, he started to stare at me with a deeply tenderized look, as if I was the eighth wonder of the world. Once out of the shop with the precious book in my backpack, I ended up asking, a bit intrigued by his unexpected reaction :

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"It's nothing. I'm just happy you're the mother of my children." He said, gently stroking my hand with his thumb.

"Oh, come on." I laughed, stopping to look at him and discovering at the same time he was perfectly serious, what surprised me because I had really thought he was gently teasing me by saying those words.

"I'm not kidding." He kindly answered. "You're absolutely perfect."

"Because I bought a book to my son?" I asked with my eyebrows raised, scoffing him a little bit.

"No, because you're always trying to make them happy. You're giving them all the love in the world, and this is the best way to raise a kid. You're amazing, Emma Swan, have I told you this already?"

I smiled, deeply moved by this statement, and put myself on my tiptoe to kiss him on the lips in a quiet thank you. Once I pulled away, I kept my arms wrapped around his neck to whisper against his mouth.

"You're not bad yourself, you know."

He grinned, pressed a tender kiss on my forehead as his fingers were gently running up and down my spine, and we started walking again, hand in hand, still smiling like two teenagers knowing their first love.

* * *

The day had passed way faster than I had hoped it would. I would have wanted these moments to last forever, because I was feeling so good by Killian's side. We had walked into the streets of the city for a few hours, and I had taken him to all the places I knew and loved about this magical place that had been my home for a while all those years ago. I had absolutely wanted to show him what a real funfair was looking like and, after dinner, we had taken the subway to go to Coney Island. The weather was wonderful, even now that the sun had set in the sky, and it was still so hot I was only wearing a red t-shirt and jeans. The place was crowded as overexcited kids were running around, letting go of cries of joy, and a cheerful music was ringing in the air. His left arm wrapped around my shoulders, Killian was looking all around him in awe, not wanting to miss one thing about what was going on in this magical place. He was looking like a kid and I smiled, tenderized, cuddling a little bit more against his chest.

"You want some?" I offered, handing him the package of roasted peanuts we had bought at the entrance and in which I was absent-mindlessly pecking.

He gave me a suspicious look back, as if he was scared I was going to poison him, and I resumed with one of my eyebrow raised, playing along with his kindly mocking look.

"Don't play smart with me, Jones, or I will buy you a cotton candy." I threatened, knowing all too well what would be his reaction if I was giving him the sweet.

"I beg your pardon?" He asked, looking totally confused by my statement.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." I replied with a giggle, amused by his reaction.

"Since we've arrived here, I feel like you're only trying to feed me weird stuffs. Are you mocking me with this?"

"Not at all." I laughed. "And you're only saying this because you've never seen what a cotton candy looks like."

"Is it weirder than the hot dog you made me eat yesterday?" he asked with a falsely innocent look on his face.

"Don't pretend you didn't like it. And to answer your question, you have no idea how stranger it is." I said with a purposely mysterious look.

"Are the people of this world… peculiar, or are you just weird during the pregnancy?"

I felt my eyes widening because of this teasing I hadn't expected to hear, and I stated, seeing that he was looking pretty proud of his joke :

"Okay, if you're taking it like that, I'm buying you one."

"No, I was kidding… Swan!" He called me back, as I had freed myself from his embrace and was heading for a stand selling sweets, still laughing out loud.

I didn't pay attention to his offended protestations, and bought two cotton candies, which the sellers gave me with a kind smile. Hook threw me a blank stare from behind his huge sweet that he was holding in his hand, and I burst out laughing, putting a part of my own candy in my mouth and enjoying the feeling of the sugar melting against my tongue.

"Okay, if I really do have to eat that, at least tell me what it's made of." He asked with a melodramatic sight.

"Sugar."

"And?" He encouraged me to continue.

"I was finished. Just sugar."

"Seriously? And you want me to eat that bloody thing?"

"I'm doing it right now!" I replied with a chuckle. "And if you don't trust me, look around you. Everyone is eating the same thing."

He wavered for a few more minutes, more in order to tease me than because he was actually suspicious, and ended up yielding to my amused comments. And against all odds, he actually liked it a lot. It even put him in a really good mood, because we were stopping every few minutes to share sweet kisses between the stands. We ended up stopping in front of shooting stand, and I looked at the fluffed animals laying on the shelves, behind a fifty-year-old man and his teenage daughter. I said, poking Killian on the shoulder to draw his attention :

"I'm gonna win one for Liam."

"You seem pretty sure of yourself." He gently scoffed.

"I remind you I have experience with guns" I replied with a falsely upset look, gesturing to the owner to tell him I wanted to try.

He gave me one of the guns with a smile, and I defiantly smirked at Hook before aiming for the empty jars laying in front of me. As I had expected, each and every one of my shots met their goal, and the teenage girl, who had stared at my performance with a fascinated expression, asked, looking impressed :

"That was awesome! You're a cop?"

"A Sheriff." I corrected with a smile, giving her the gun back.

"You're the best player we've had for a long time, you can choose whatever you want." She said with a kind smile.

Hook joined me to help me decide what we wanted to get our son, and we ended up choosing a huge stuffed dog, Liam's favorite animal. As I was taking my price from the girl's hands, warmly thanking her at the same time, Killian stated with a little smile.

"If you don't mind, I'm going to try as well."

"Aren't you scared to get beaten, now that you've seen what I've just done?" I said with a little smirk.

"And why do you assume I'm going to do worse than you? Do you think I'm only good with my sword?"

I saw the young girl bursting out laughing behind him, and pressed my lips together to contain my giggles, aware that, for someone who didn't know about our stories, his sentence could sound like a dirty joke. Killian looked at me, seeming completely lost because of my reaction, and asked :

"What did I say?"

"Nothing." I said in a voice muffled by my laughter. "Nothing at all, babe. Go on, play."

He stared at me, one of his eyebrow raised, but ended up obeying and he aimed with his gun. He had a disadvantage as he could only use his right hand, but he actually did very well. Once the game finished, he chose a little teddy bear with a soft fur and gave it to me, saying :

"This one is for Peanut."

He placed his hand on my stomach to illustrate his words, and I smiled when I felt the baby giving a little kick. I was always finding it so beautiful it was answering its father's strokes and voice, as if they were already sharing a strong bound while they hadn't even met for real yet.

"It pleases it a lot and it's saying thank you." I whispered, looking up at him with a little smile on my lips.

He leaned forward for the hundredth times that night to press a little kiss on my mouth, then on the tip of my nose, the young girl watching us with a small smile on her face.

* * *

The day after – and despite our pretty eventful night, but we were the only ones to blame and, quite frankly, I wasn't regretting anything – we got up pretty early to have breakfast at the hotel, and we walked all day in the streets, hand in hand, a bit sad at the idea this wonderful time together was already almost over. I found a stuffed tiger for my baby brother in a toy store, happy to be able to bring something to the kids. We had talked to Liam on the phone the night before, and even if he hadn't said much, which was normal for a little boy of his age, my mom had assured us he was more than okay and was adorable, as always. Killian and I talked about him, Henry, our family that was going to grow soon and, just like that and way too fast, it was already time to go and resume our normal lives.

The bus was leaving at 3pm, and we were supposed to arrive in Storybrooke at night. Just before going, I dragged Killian inside of a photo booth that was placed in the bus station. He looked at the machine as if it was evil, what made me laugh out loud as he was overreacting on purpose to make me giggle even more. In the little cabin, we shared one last moment in these three days that had seemed like a dream. We didn't even have the time to look at the pictures after taking them, because the bus was going to leave, and we couldn't miss it. I was happy to see my family again, obviously, but I would have wanted this trip to last longer : the days we had just spent together had been so magical and I didn't want it to end so soon.

"I can't believe it's already over." I sighted in sadness after joining our places in the bus.

Hook turned to look at me as I was saying these words, and wrapped his arm around my shoulders to comfort me. He pulled me very close to his chest and pressed a tender kiss on the top of my head :

"I know, love. I'm sad it's over too."

I sighted again and cuddled a little bit more against him to breathe his comforting fragance of leather and sea. To make me feel better, he continued, gently stroking my skin through my t-shirt :

"You know what? When the baby will be born, we'll go somewhere with the kids. Somewhere far, and for long this time. We'll offer them a real trip far from all the dangers in Storybrooke. What do you think?"

I felt a huge smile appearing on my lips, so glad about his unexpected offer, as I hadn't thought for one second he would have this idea. The proposition was pleasing me a lot : Getting Henry, Liam and the little one out of Storybrooke for a little while. Be a normal family for once. Sure, I would have to talk about it with Regina, but I was sure she was going to give us her blessing : We weren't fighting for Henry's custody anymore, and if he was technically speaking leaving one week at her place and one week at ours, he could come and go between the two houses whenever he wanted to. So happy about it, I moved to press a long kiss on Killian's lips, and when he pulled away from me, he said with a big smile :

"You seem to like this idea."

"I love you." I simply answered, and his smile widened a bit more.

As the bus was starting off, I got my cellphone out of my pocket to look at the pictures we had taken during our trip. I stopped scrolling to look at one photograph in particular : a young woman had kindly offered us to take a picture as we were standing in front of a restaurant called _The Jolly Roger_ , what had made us laugh a lot. I had explained to Killian the ship was extremely famous in the pop culture, and it wasn't surprising to find a place called like that, but we had anyway found this really amusing. Seeing us struggling to take a picture containing us and the sign, the young woman had come to save the day, and the result was more than beautiful : standing in front of the building, a huge smile on our faces, we were pulled into such a tight embrace that it was hard to see where I was beginning and where he was ending.

"This one is going to go join the others in the kitchen." Killian stated with a big grin.

I enthusiastically nodded and kept on scrolling to look at the pictures as he was staring at the screen behind my shoulder. When I had finished, I got the pictures from the photo booth out of my jeans, and smiled a little bit more. On one of the photographs, I was laughing at something he had said to me, my head tilted, and Killian was turned on his side, a little smile on his face as he was looking at me like I was the most precious thing he had ever seen. As a quiet thank you for always being so sweet and caring with me, I cuddled against him and ended up falling asleep in his comforting arms. At my greatest surprise, I only woke up when we arrived in Storybrooke.

"I slept all the way?" I mumbled, rubbing my eyes and a bit confused as I was seeing the travelers leaving their seats.

"You needed the rest. And after the nights we've just lived, you shouldn't be surprised to be tired." He answered with a charming smile, what made me giggle and allowed me to regain my good mood.

He laughed as well and we got out of the bus to go find my parents, who were awaiting for us in the pitch-dark parking. They approached us with a big smile to greet us, and I took them in my arms, a little smile on my face.

"You look good." My mom said, gently cupping my cheek.

"Have you had fun?" My dad asked with a big smile, his hand patting Hook's shoulder.

"It was awesome." I answered, glancing at Killian, who was looking at me with a little grin, looking happy to see me so close to my parents. "Thanks for everything, guys..."

"There's no need to thank us, honey." My mom assured, looking so happy by my statement.

"I'm going to go take your bags." My dad said, taking Killian behind him and leaving me alone with Mary-Margaret.

"The kids aren't with you?" I asked as they were walking away from us.

"No, it was too late for them to come with us. But they are with Regina and Robin at your place, we told ourselves it would prevent you from coming back to the loft, you must be exhausted. Liam is really excited to see you both, by the way."

"He hasn't done too many mischiefs with Neal, has he?" I asked, impatient to hold my sons close to me again.

"Not at all, he has been a real angel, as always."

I smiled even more hearing those words, and Killian and David came back, carrying our heavy bags on their shoulders. They had only taken my yellow bug to come and greet us, and we all bunched into the tiny space. I found myself on the backseat of the car, once again against Killian, but I wasn't complaining about that. He was himself looking pretty glad by the situation, because he didn't moan once about the lack of space, just holding me close to him and pressing tender kisses on my forehead from time to time. The journey home was pretty short and we found ourselves back in Storybrooke before we had the time to think about it. My parents assured us they were taking care of our luggage, and we walked hand in hand to the front door of our house :

"We're home!" I said once we had entered the hall.

We hadn't had the time to take three steps that a little brown head ran toward us, and Killian and I laughed at the same time as Liam was giggling :

"Mommy! Daddy!" He shouted.

I squatted to take him against me, and he threw himself in my arms with so much strength I lost my balance and found myself sitting on the floor. I heard Hook laughing again above my head, and he sat down as well to embrace Liam. I kissed my son on the top of his head several times, holding him very close to my chest :

"I've missed you, baby." I whispered.

Neal and Henry didn't take long to arrive, and my brother joined our embrace, laughing as my oldest son was looking at us with the little smirk he always had when he was about to mock us :

"Comfy there?" He asked, seeing that I was imprisoned into the kids' hugs.

"Stop mocking us, and come here, you." I chuckled, gesturing so he would come join us.

He obeyed with a smile and bent to hug us both. I ended up getting up again as my parents were entering the hall, my baby brother in my arms as Liam was snuggled into Killian's. We headed for the living room, greeting Regina and Robin with a big smile, and we settled on the couch, Neal still in my arms.

"How was New York?" The little boy asked, his eyes sparkling in excitement.

"It was great." I said, playfully fluffing his hair.

"Could I go too, one day?"

"Sure, sweetie. When you'll be older." My mom promised with a little smile.

"But for now, we've brought you gifts!" I stated, wanting to comfort my brother who was looking a bit disappointed by my mom's answer.

The two little boys immediately fell in love with their toys. As they were busy giggling and hugging their stuffed animals, I took Henry in the kitchen to give him his gift as well, pretty eager to see his reaction when he would see the book I had gotten him.

"I have something for you too." I said, holding the bag containing the precious item in my hand.

"Mom, you didn't have too..." He protested with a happy expression that was denying his words.

"Of course I wanted to get you something, you're my son. Don't protest, and open it." I said, biting my lower lip as I was handing him the bag, suddenly a bit anxious at the idea the gift wasn't going to please him the way I had imagined it would.

I saw his eyes widening when he saw the book, and he started to carefully turn the pages, as if he was scared to spoil them. After a few seconds spent into a surprised silence, he ended up stuttering :

"How… where did you find this?"

"In an antique shop." I said with a little shrug. "Do you like it?"

"Are you kidding me? I love it, mom, why is this even a question! Thank you so much!" He shouted, spontaneously dragging me into a tight embrace. "Do you think all the characters are real as well?"

"Probably." I answered, pulling away from him but keeping my hands on his shoulders, telling myself that I was so proud to be the mom of such a wonderful young man.

My family left us not long after our reunion, and we needed a little while before managing to get Liam to bed, as he was overexcited because of our return. We were back to reality now, and despite the few magical days we had just passed, I was happy to be near my family again. Being home was reminding me that no more danger was awaiting for us out there, and it was making me feel so good. Maybe, finally we could form a happy and normal family.

* * *

 **Here we go guys! This was the last calm chapter, the few that are coming are going to be pretty intense. See you Monday! :)**


	33. Chapter 33

**Thanks to Emilee Amethyst, oncer4life11 and Araya for the reviews! :)**

* * *

"Do you think we chose the right color?" Killian asked, stopping his task for a few seconds to look around the room we were standing in with a little focused pout.

"It's pretty hard to say when we don't know the gender." I replied, placing both my hands on my hips. "But you know, light grey and white, it can be good for a boy or a girl."

"Mmm… I'm starting to think I would have preferred pastel colors, it's better for a child's room." He answered, not looking so convinced by my reply.

"Listen, I don't think the baby is going to complain when it will be born." I kindly scoffed. "And if you don't like it, we'll do what we did with Liam : we'll paint the room again when it will be older."

Hook nodded, finally agreeing with my offer, and grabbed his paintbrush again to continue his job with a deeply focused expression on his face.

We were both standing in the space that had been our spare room for a while, but we had decided to empty it and transform it into the room that would welcome the baby. I was 30 weeks pregnant, and it was more than time for us to start as the time was flying, but I was pretty proud of how quick we were progressing. We had only painted half of the room and the crib, made out of white wood, we had chosen wasn't built yet, but we had only begun the job a few days earlier and we were doing pretty well. My parents were usually helping us for the works, but this afternoon, they were babysitting Liam so he could play a little bit with Neal, and Killian and I were thus alone in the house. Hook had been pretty reluctant at first when I had told him I wanted to help arranging the room – after all, I hadn't taken part in the works for Liam's room at the time as I'd had to stay off my feet the last two months of the pregnancy – but I was feeling better than ever, and I was very happy to be able to help my family with building the nest that was going to welcome our child. Seeing my enthusiasm, Hook hadn't wanted to protest, but he was however glancing at me regularly to make sure I wasn't doing too much, and I was always answering with a little smile to reassure him.

I stopped for a second to look around the room, slowly spinning, and placed my forefinger on my chin without really thinking about what I was doing. Killian immediately turned to look at me with a huge grin, and I asked, one of my eyebrow raised in a questioning look.

"What are you laughing at?"

"You put paint on your face." He smiled, a bit mocking.

"Very funny, really." I replied, shaking my head in a falsely annoyed look.

Seeing that he was still chuckling without paying attention to my comment, I grabbed the brush that was dipping into the paint bucket to shake it in his direction. He had changed his usual leather clothes to put on something more comfortable, and his white shirt got covered in grey stains. He looked at me in a deeply offended way, and giggled out loud, saying :

"Who's laughing now?"

He didn't answer anything and approached me, looking at me in a falsely threatening way. I bit my lower lip, wondering what was going to happen to me and, before I could do anything to stop him, he had put his right hand into the paint pot and had placed it on my stomach. I looked down at my overalls to survey the damage : the print of his hand was now etched on the clothes, which, if I was trusting his laughter, he was finding very funny.

"Very clever, Jones." I said, looking up at him, pretending to be mad.

As I was thinking about an idea to take my revenge, the oven rang in the kitchen, warning me that the cake I had prepared was now ready. Cooking had never been my strong suit, but I had wanted to try and make something for Liam when he would come home. I had also told myself that with the little one coming our way, I was going to try and start to cook to help Killian a little bit, as he was always the one to make dinner to avoid going to Granny's every night.

I winced at him, falsely threatening, and said, playfully poking his shoulder :

"This is not over."

He laughed because of my comment, knowing all too well I was messing with him, and he followed me down the stairs to lean against the kitchen counter and stay by my side as I carefully got the cake out of the oven. I noticed that it was looking particularly good for a first try, and took the bowl containing melted chocolate that was laying on the table to spread it on the top of the cake. Killian got a bit closer to me to offer his help, but I refused with a kind smile :

"I would like to try and make it by myself, I wanna see if it's good or not."

"It really looks good, you know." He kindly said.

I was about to answer him, but suddenly had an idea to retaliate against his former attack with the paint. I then dipped my forefinger into the remains of melted chocolate, pretending to be willing to eat it, but instead of gesturing toward my mouth, I quickly moved and drew a huge mark of chocolate on his right cheek. His eyes widened, as if I had just betrayed him grandly, and I started laughing seeing his surprised expression :

"I told you I would take my revenge." I said, almost choking because of my giggles.

He shook his head, grabbed my wrist with his hook, and retaliated by putting chocolate on the tip of my nose. The little battle lasted for a little while, and we ended up both daubed with chocolate, laughing out loud and kissing in the middle of the room. I was finding it so funny that the two grown-ups we were could still play like two little kids, and I couldn't have been happier about it.

"I love you." I stated through my giggles.

He didn't answer anything but kissed me breathlessly, and it was meaning everything to me. We stayed for a long while hugging each other, before I decided it was time for us to go take a shower : my parents were going to arrive pretty soon, and it wasn't a very good example to give the kids that playing with our food. I headed for the bathroom, and Killian got under the shower with me. Since the time we had moved in together, it wasn't the first time this was happening : to be completely honest, this kind of situation was taking place pretty often. We hurried to be ready when our family would arrive, and as I was putting on some clothes, my phone started to ring from the edge of the sink it was laying on. Still laughing because of Hook, that was playing at spraying water on me while I had already put on panties and a t-shirt, I looked at my screen and suddenly frowned :

"It's my mom."

Killian immediately stopped his games to approach me, landing his hand on the small of my back. His brows together, he gestured for me to put the cellphone on speaker mode so he could hear as well, and I picked up, pretty worried :

"Yeah, mom?"

"Emma, am I bothering you?"

"Not at all." I said, all my seriousness back at the idea something could have happened to my son. "What's going on? Is there a problem with Liam?"

"No, he's more than fine, don't worry about him, it's just… Listen, honey, we'd like to talk to you both if it's okay for you."

The tone she had used made my heart skip a beat. I could read fear in her shaky voice, and I didn't like that at all. What could be happening again in this damn town? I shared a concerned look with Killian an answered :

"Aren't you on your way to bring Liam back?"

"No, we're still at the loft. We would rather stay here, if you don't mind joining us. Regina, Robin, Henry and the kids are all here, and we would like to reunite everyone. We have something important to tell you."

"Okay, mom, what's going on?" I asked, more and more worried about her cryptic comments.

"It's complicated, it would be better for us to tell you everything when you'll get here."

Her voice was tenser than ever. I told her we were on our way, and hung up, biting the inside of my cheek, so concerned about all of this. Killian, feeling my worry, gently stroked my spine and said :

"It seems pretty serious, love, but try not to worry too much before knowing what's going on, okay? Perhaps it's nothing that bad, we could be imagining things."

"I know." I sighted without feeling that convinced by his words. "But we should go. The sooner the better." I added, quickly putting on black leggings, the first thing I found on my way.

No more than two minutes later, we were leaving the house. Laying on the kitchen counter, the cake was slowly cooling, vestige of this moment of innocence that was now over for good.

* * *

We arrived pretty quickly at my parents' loft. The journey in my yellow bug had taken place in a tormented silence : Hook and I didn't know what was happening, and it was making us very anxious. I knocked at the door to announce our presence, and, knowing all too well what was going through my mind at that moment, Killian gently grabbed my hand to reassure me. I weakly smiled at him and, at my greatest surprised, I heard the lock operating when my mom opened.

"Why did you lock the door?" I asked, seeing her appearing in front of me, completely confused by this discovery.

Since I had arrived in Storybrooke, this door had almost never been locked. The situation had to be extremely bad for my parents to take this kind of precaution, and I noticed that my mom was looking very pale, as if she was scared of something.

"Come on in." She simply told us without answering my question.

I obeyed, Killian following me, and my mom quickly closed the door back behind us as if something dangerous could enter as well. I turned my head to look at the people standing in the room. The kids were all snuggled into a grown-up's arms, as if they were trying to protect them : Neal with my dad, Liam with his brother and Robyn and Roland respectively against Regina and Robin. They were all looking so worried, and the first one to talk was Liam, who, after seeing us, freed himself from Henry's grip to run in my direction :

"Mommy!" He shouted, wrapping his little arms around my neck as I had squatted to greet him.

I forced myself to smile at him, aware that he was probably feeling the fear that was crackling in the air. I looked up at my loved ones, who were all looking at me as if they were all terrified of something, and I said in a cheerful voice to avoid frightening the kids :

"What's going on?"

"Henry, could you take the children with you in my room, please?" My mom kindly asked.

Against all odds, my son didn't protest and came to take Liam by the hand to walk away from us. I got up, my brows together : all of this was very confusing. If everything had been okay, Henry would have been mad to be left aside like that. Things were getting weirder and weirder by the minute, and it was concerning me beyond words.

"What's wrong?" Killian started once we were sure that the kids couldn't hear us anymore.

"Maybe you should both sit down." My dad offered us, but I cut him off.

"No need for that, we just want to know what's going on."

They all shared serious looks, and it's Regina who started to talk again in an insecure tone, thing that was once again pretty unusual :

"It's Zelena. She escaped."

* * *

I needed a few seconds to realize how serious the situation was and, when my brain suddenly started to work again, I got so dizzy I didn't know where I was anymore. It couldn't be true. She was locked in a highly controlled cell, she couldn't have escaped. There had to be a mistake somewhere, I had misunderstood what they were trying to tell me.

"Wh… What do you mean?" I stuttered, wanting to make sure I had heard correctly.

"How is that even possible?" Killian said in a muffled voice.

I turned to look at him, triggered by the tone he had used to talk. He had suddenly become deathly pale, and his entire body was tensed, as if he was about to fight against a danger. I didn't even have the strength to whisper something to his ear and comfort him, I was feeling way too bad because of these unexpected news.

"I found the nurse that was bringing her meals knocked out in her cell." Regina explained. "She's probably benefited from a moment of distraction to strike and escape."

"Emma, are you okay?" My mom asked in a worried tone.

"I need to sit down." I whispered, aware that if I was staying on my feet a second longer, my legs wouldn't be able to support my weight anymore and I would faint.

My dad approached me with a concerned look and drove me to the nearest sofa. I would have been unable to do this simple act by myself, the loft was looking way too blurry around me. I sat down on the couch, my breathing jerky as I was horrified by what was happening, trying to calm my terror down as I was feeling a panic attack rushing over me.

Zelena was free again. The same woman that had tried to kill me and my baby. The one I had miraculously escaped from, the one that wasn't supposed to hurt me anymore. She could come and attack me any time now. My family wasn't safe anymore. Six weeks, it was the time during which I had naively thought we would all make it. But she was back, and I was going to suffer again. I couldn't believe it, and I felt my hands starting to shake without being able to control them.

I opened my eyes again, as I had closed them to unsuccessfully try and calm myself down. My dad was settled beside me, and was hesitating to take me into his arms to try and comfort me a little bit. My mom, Robin and Regina were all looking horribly anxious and were staring at me with fear in their eyes, worried by my violent reaction. Killian, holding a bit back, was shaking from the anger.

"The _good news_ is that she still can't use her powers." Regina resumed in a low voice. "I've been careful it would be impossible for her to free herself from the bracelet, this time. She needs magic to get hers back, and for what I know, she has no one to help her in her task. But the bad news is that several guns have disappeared from the station."

I didn't even have the strength to nod at her explanation. Sure, I had magic and she didn't have her powers anymore, but it didn't mean she couldn't take us by surprised and kill me or someone I loved, especially now that she was armed. Terrified, I turned my head to look at my dad, who wrapped his arm around me to pull me close to him :

"It's gonna be okay, Emma. We'll protect you and the baby." He whispered, rocking me against his chest.

"If she's managed to get me once, she'll do it again." I said, feeling tears starting to fill in my eyes.

"Are you okay?" My mom suddenly asked to Killian, who hadn't talked yet.

I looked up to stare at him. He hadn't looked at me since we had learned the news, what was highly unusual. I knew him, he would normally have rushed in my direction to take me into his arms and assure me everything was going to be all right. He had to be in a rage to act that way, and I felt a wave of dread rushing over me, waiting for his reaction.

"How could you let such a thing happen?!" He finally barked, his hand in a fist, looking at Regina with his jaw clenched.

"It was an accident." She defended herself in a surprisingly calm voice. "I don't even now how she's managed to get away like that..."

"But she did!" He cut her off. "She did, and now Emma, no, my entire family is in danger!"

"Calm down." Robin tried to temper, stepping forward to comfort him.

"Calming down?" He repeated with anger. "I almost lost Emma and the baby once! I thought it was over! I thought we were safe!"

I was watching the scene without being able to decide and intervene. It was all feeling like a nightmare, and I was understanding Killian's reaction. I was knowing him better than anyone, and he was always reacting that way when he was scared. But, because of his words, I was even more terrorized : if he wasn't bothering to come and embrace me like he would usually have done, it was because he was thinking that the situation was hopeless. If he was getting that mad, it was because he knew I wouldn't survive this, now that Zelena was out there, and it was awaking all those fears I had buried deep inside of me for weeks.

"We are scared too. Robyn is in danger. But we'll find a solution." Robin resumed in a gentle voice. "We won't let her near Emma, or anyone, once again."

"I'm going to find a solution right now." Killian then said, without screaming this time and it was even more terrifying, because he was in such a rage I was scared he would do something dangerous. "I'm going to find this fucking witch, and I'm going to kill her.

"Killian, no!"

I was the one who had screamed his name like that, without even thinking about what I was doing. But I had to stop him, I didn't have a choice. He had placed his hand on the door, but stopped right away when he heard my voice. I wouldn't have stood him going out there alone, risking to get killed in the process. I knew he just wanted to protect our family, but I was so scared his impulsiveness would lead him to his death. Everyone was now looking at me, and no one was moving, all waiting for what was going to happen. In the silence that had filled in the room, I whispered :

"I can't risk losing you too."

My voice broke on the last word, and I felt a tear streaming down my face without being able to hold it back. Without thinking about it for longer, I freed myself from my dad's embrace and got up to take Killian in my arms. His anger was a sign of fear : he needed to be reassured, to know that I was here and that I knew how to defend myself. And even if I was horrified at the idea of what was happening to me, even if I couldn't help but crying, I wanted to help him calm down. It was my part to make him feel a little bit better, as he was always there for me when I was scared.

"Don't go." I said to his ear, trying not to sob too hard. "Please. Don't put yourself in danger like that. I can't lose you."

"I'm so sorry, darling." He answered, hugging me so tight against him. "It's gonna be okay. We won't let her hurt you, I promise. I'm sorry I got mad, I'm just scared, because I can't stand the fact you're in danger again. But we'll find a way to protect our family, everything is going to be okay."

He wasn't sounding mad at all anymore, it was as if everything that mattered for him was to have me in his arms, and he was gently rocking me against him, all his gentleness back. I buried my face into the crook of his neck, still silently crying. I wasn't only scared for me : I had beaten Zelena once while I didn't have my powers anymore, and I knew how to defend myself. If I had been her only target, it wouldn't have been a problem. But my sons, Killian and the baby were in danger as well. And I knew that, as I was pregnant, I didn't have all my strength to try and protect those I loved. I was so scared to lose someone again, and I was feeling so helpless, because she was armed. A shot could happen so fast…

I was feeling Killian breathing really fast against me, as if he was trying to hold his tears back. He gently ran his fingers down my spine in a comforting stroke and, reassuring each other, we ended up calming down a little bit.

"I'm just happy you're staying here." I whispered in a broken voice after a long silence. "I don't want you to put yourself in danger with everything that's happening."

"I'm so sorry I wanted to go." He said, pulling away from me and I could see his eyes shinning with unshed tears. "I'm just scared of something happening to you again… But we're going to make it. We won't let her hurt us."

"Don't apologize, babe." I said, cupping his cheek, knowing that his reaction was completely understandable. "Just promise me you won't go alone out there to look for her. I'm scared of something happening to you too."

"I promise." He said before embracing me once again.

My mom was silently crying in a corner of the room, looking terrified about something happening to one of us. Without thinking about it, I pulled away from Killian to go hug her, aware that she needed to feel me close in order to calm herself down. She didn't said anything, but she held me tightly against her, as if she was scared I was going to disappear.

Henry, who had watched the entire scene from the bedroom, realized we were all settled down, and brought the kids back beside us. They weren't as cheerful as usual, understanding that something was off with us. Henry immediately came to embrace me, looking horribly worried as well. I forced myself not to start crying again when I realized he was in danger too : He didn't need that on top of everything that was happening. I was his mom, and he needed me to be strong.

"Everything will be all right." I promised, forcing myself to stop my voice from breaking again.

He simply nodded as an answer and blinked to chase his tears away. I then approached Killian again to kiss Liam, who was curled up into his father's arms, on the forehead. I needed to feel my loved ones close to me, because I was so scared of something happening to them when I would least expect it. I needed to make them understand I loved them, because if someone was going to get hurt, I wanted them to know they were my everything.

We ended up deciding to stay at my parents' loft for the rest of the day. None of us was feeling good enough to get out and search for Zelena, and we were all knowing deep down it was unlikely for us to find her : she was hiding, she would only get out when she would want to, and the best thing to do was to be ready for when she would come. Regina placed protection spells all around the loft to prevent an intrusion, and we spent the afternoon trying to comfort each other

But despite all of our encouraging words, we all knew we weren't safe at all anymore. A strange atmosphere was making the air thick, as if a threat was about to explode, and I was feeling deep down something bad was about to happen and we couldn't do anything to avoid it. Despite all of our efforts, I knew Zelena would manage to hurt us. But I didn't know what was going to happen to us, and it was horrifying.

* * *

Laying in our bed, my eyes staring at the ceiling, I was trying to take deep breaths to calm the panic attack that was going on for a few minutes already. I wasn't able to fall asleep after what I had learned earlier in the day and, every time I was closing my eyes, I was seeing Zelena appearing in front of me, threatening someone I loved. I had tried to stay strong during the day, but now that everything was dark, I was feeling terrified, and even Killian, who was asleep next to me, wasn't managing to reassure me. Yet, I knew the witch couldn't strike now : She didn't have her magic anymore, and Regina had protected the house with protection spells, as she had done with my parents' loft earlier. But I was so scared at the idea of what was happening to us again. A hand on my bump, I was shaking from the fear and felt a cold sweat starting to cover my forehead. My head was spinning, and I was feeling like I couldn't breathe anymore.

The panic attack went on for a while, and I ended up sitting down and leaning against the headboard to try and catch my breath. I wanted to calm down, but I didn't know what to do to help myself to feel better. I didn't know if anything could comfort me given the state I was in. I just wanted things to be the way they were before, and I was feeling like crying.

"Swan, you okay?"

Killian had spoken in a whisper. I had thought he was sleeping, but now that I was thinking about it, he had probably felt it hard to rest and my jerky breath had alerted him. He turned the light on to see better, and without looking at him, I pressed my lips together to try not to start sobbing and slowly shook my head, tired to pretend everything was okay while I was feeling so bad.

With a boundless gentleness, he took me into his arms, and I placed my head on his shoulder as his hand was going up my back in a comforting stroke.

"You're shaking." He noticed, rocking me against his chest.

"I'm sorry." I said before starting to cry again. "I didn't want to scare you."

"Em', sweetheart, you don't have to apologize." He gently said." You've been so strong all day, it's almost unbelievable. Crying doesn't make you weak, you know. Everyone would have crumbled under the fear, but you've done everything to look well in front of the kids. You're the bravest person that I know, so don't blame yourself, okay?"

I slowly nodded, touched by his words, and stayed snuggled into his arms for a very long time. I ended up pulling away a little bit to wipe off my tears. I wasn't that reassured, but not keeping everything to myself anymore had helped me a lot : I had the right to cry too, I had the right to be vulnerable from time to time. It wasn't making me less strong, it wasn't forbidden and it had done me good.

Killian looked at me straight into my eyes and ran his hand through my messy hair, saying :

"I'm scared too, you know. But we're going to find a solution. We're not going to let her hurt you, we're not making that mistake once again. I promise you we'll do everything to protect our family, Emma. I love you so, so much."

"I love you too." I whispered with a slight smile as he was taking me against him again.

We fell asleep cuddled against each other, still afraid by the situation but a bit comforted by the other's presence next to us.

* * *

 **Here we go! So, as you've probably guessed it, Zelena is back, and wants her revenge more than ever! The few followings chapters are quite dark and eventful, I hope you'll like it! :)**


	34. Chapter 34

**Thanks a lot to oncer4life11 , Emilee Amethyst, PrincessEmilyVictoriaHolmes101 and Araya for the reviews! Here's to a pretty eventful chapter, I hope you'll like it! :)**

* * *

Leaning against the door frame, looking at what was supposed to be the baby's room, I sighted and closed my eyes for a few seconds, horribly discouraged. A week had passed since we had learned about Zelena's escape, and with everything that had happened ever since, our terror, our worry, our wish to protect those we loved, we hadn't had the time to continue the work, and the room was still under construction. As if our lives had stopped when we had learned the terrible news.

The witch was still hiding since she had escaped, but I was feeling a huge threat hanging above our heads, and I was so damn scared. Every day, we were meeting somewhere with my family : At Regina's, my parents' or at home. It wasn't to try and find a way to defeat Zelena because, and we were aware of it, we couldn't do anything else except waiting for her to attack us. Our meetings were there to reassure us : when we were all together, we were feeling stronger, almost able to defeat whatever hardship life would put on our ways. Most of the time, the kids were staying with us, but we had decided to leave them to Ashley, who had been warned about the entire situation and who was going to be helped by Robin, from today. Her apartment's doors had been protected by Regina's magic, and we had decided it was wiser to leave the little ones somewhere where the witch wouldn't think they could be. She was hunting us, convinced that Robyn was with us, and it was safer to move the kids away for now, even if this idea was terrorizing me because I didn't want Liam to be far away from us. When I had him in my arms, I was convincing myself that I was able to protect him, and leaving him being watched by someone else was giving me the horrible feeling I was losing all control. But I also knew it was the best decision to take, and I was forcing myself to stay calm. I didn't want to live one of this horrible panic attacks that were rushing over me several times a day again.

It was still quite early, and my little boy was still peacefully sleeping in his crib. I couldn't sleep well, and I had lost all appetite since I had learned about what had happened with Zelena, but once again, I was forcing myself to eat and not put the baby in danger. I had to protect it the best I could, but I was feeling so powerless : it wasn't born yet and it had been put in danger so many times already, I couldn't imagine how it was going to be like when it would be there if the witch was still around.

I heard steps ringing in my back, and strong arms gently wrapped around my stomach. I didn't startle : I had recognized Killian before seeing him, and these sudden embraces weren't unusual since we had discovered the news. We both needed to feel the other close, as if we were scared to get separated again. So, several times a day, no matter the place we were in, and never knowing which one of us had first asked for comfort, we were finding ourselves in each other's arms, tightly hugging until our hearts had finally stopped pounding so hard against our ribs.

"You okay?" He asked in a whisper, pressing a gentle kiss on my temple.

I shrugged as an answer, not even trying to pretend everything was fine anymore, and moved to face him and embrace him, burying my face into the crook of his neck. Everything in him was comforting and was making me feel a little bit better : his fragrance, the strength with which he was hugging me, the softness of his skin… He was helping me coping with what was happening, day after day, as I was calming him down when he was terrified he would lose someone he loved again. We were supporting each other without asking questions, and it was one of the most beautiful thing to find in a relationship. I was so glad to have him by my side that, sometimes, even _I love you_ didn't seem strong enough to describe what I was feeling for this wonderful man.

"Mommy!"

Liam's little voice forced me to pull away from Killian. I looked at him straight into his eyes, a slight smile on my face to reassure him as he was gently running his hand through my hair to comfort me, knowing how bad I was feeling. I enjoyed his strokes for a few seconds before saying to my son :

"I'm coming, baby!"

Killian pressed another kiss on my forehead before I walked away to go get Liam, as if he wanted to keep me a little bit longer against him :

"We're leaving soon." He simply said.

I nodded and headed for my son's room with another sight, aware that the following days would unfortunately not be easier than those we had just lived.

* * *

"Are you guys okay?" My mom kindly asked us as we were arriving in Regina's office.

It was there we had decided to gather this afternoon, this time. The meeting place was always changing to try and stop Zelena from knowing where we were. Our cars were parked at different places in town to cover up our tracks : the yellow bug was in front of Granny's, my parents' was close to the loft. It was a paltry solution, but it was giving us the illusory feeling we were safe, and everything was good to take to make us feel a bit better.

I nodded to not worry her too much and sat down on the couch of the room, one hand on my bump as the baby was giving furious kicks, probably feeling my own fear. Hook came to settle next to me, as always, while the rest of my family was spreading around the room, my parents leaning on the desk, my son his back to a wall and Regina, back to the door, her hands defiantly landing on her hips :

"I can't believe she's managing to spread terror in this town once again. She's strong, I have to admit it."

"Getting mad won't fix anything, Regina." My mom gently tempered. "And we'll figure something out to defeat her, especially now that she doesn't have her powers anymore."

"But she's armed." My friend insisted with a discouraged sight.

"I have a gun too." My father nodded with a falsely confident expression on his face. "So does Emma. We're not going to let her hurt us. Not again." he added, looking at me right into my eyes.

"I really hope so..." Regina said, shaking her head in despair.

I discreetly sighted. I had the feeling we were having the exact same conversation for a week, but no one was really believing these comforting words. The witch was going to hurt us, I could feel it in my bones, and a little voice in the back of my head was yelling that she was going to do something to Killian or one of my children, because she knew it was the best way to really hurt me.

Hook noticed I had looked down to try and hold my anxiety back, and he gently took my hand, interlacing our fingers together to comfort me. He always knew when the fear was rushing over me, and he was doing his best to reassure me, despite his own terror of losing me. I pressed his fingers between mine and turned to look at him, losing myself in the blue of his eyes for a few seconds. It's during this short period of time that everything fell apart.

The first thing I heard was a "Regina, look out!" yelled by my father in a panicked voice. I startled and turned, wondering what was happening again, and in which context Regina was now in danger while everything was seeming normal and calm a few seconds earlier.

When I looked up, my heart skipped a beat and I felt like the time was stretching while everything was happening in slow motion, as if I was in a dream. Zelena was there, standing behind Regina, and placed a bracelet around her sister's wrist to deprive her of her powers before my friend could do anything to defend herself. Regina turned back, furious, to stop right away when she saw a gun barrel aiming at her head.

My heart was painfully pounding against my ribs, and the baby gave a huge kick in my stomach, as if it wanted to warn me about a danger I couldn't do anything to avoid. I wasn't quite managing to realize what was happening, or the consequences it was going to have on my future. I didn't even know how the witch had managed to enter the house when all the entrances were supposed to be protected by magic. I quickly looked down at her wrist to see that the black bracelet was still there, and mentally told myself it could only be a good thing for us. We had an advantage over her, and we could easily use it. I noticed that my parents were standing still, stupefied, and that Henry was slightly shaking, his eyes widened in terror. Without conferring, Hook and I got down at the same time, trying to be invisible for the witch. The sofa, facing the fireplace, was back to the door near which Zelena was still standing, and I adressed a silent prayer to a god I wasn't sure to believe in so she hadn't noticed our presence.

I was finally starting to realize how bad the situation was, and my hands began to shake as my breathing was getting faster, threatening to divulge our presence in the room filled in with a horrified quiet. I was finding myself only a few feet away from the woman that wanted me dead, and things would only go worse if I wasn't acting quickly.

I suddenly started to think really fast. I had magic while she didn't have her powers anymore, and I could take her gun away from her at any given moment. But several issues were holding me back : first of all, if I was making the slightest noise while using my magic, she could shoot, and I knew I wasn't quick enough to stop a bullet from reaching its target. Beside, when I was panicked, my powers were sometimes getting out of hands, and I was scared of what could happen in that case. I didn't want to hurt someone I loved.

Hook seemed to understand my quiet doubts, and gently squeezed my hand as if he wanted to encourage me to do something. I was feeling all his muscles tensed, he was ready to jump at our enemy's throat, and it's his intervention that made me decide to react : I had to try something, I didn't have a choice, or someone would die.

Only a few seconds had passed since the witch had walked into the room, and no words had been spoken yet. From my hideout, I lifted a shaky hand above my head to neutralize Zelena, encouraged by the touch of Hook's hand against my skin, but the witch suddenly started to talk cheerfully, in an almost childlike voice :

"If you think I haven't seen you both, you are so naive. Come on, get out of there, come say hi, it's not polite to not greet me. And Emma..." She casually resumed after a few seconds of silence. "If you try anything, he dies."

I saw her aiming at Henry, who stepped back in surprise. Regina seemed to fight against her instinct that was yelling for her to jump at her sister's throat, but she knew that if she tried anything, a bullet could be shot and get Henry in the heart. As for me, I felt tears starting to appear in my eyes at the idea my son was in danger because of me. Knowing all too well it was the only solution, I then got up, imitated by Hook, and threw a furious glance at my enemy.

"Good." She said with a huge smile. "Come closer, now."

I obeyed, my hands clenched in fists, not breathing because I was so afraid, feeling the baby moving so violently in me as if it wanted to escape this awful situation. All my fears were materializing in front of me but, this time, it was even worse. It wasn't only the baby and me that were in danger, but also the people I loved, my family, my everything. I closed my eyes for a second and, in order to calm myself down, I told myself that at least Liam was safe. My little boy wouldn't directly suffer, and this thought comforted me a bit.

"Stay where you are, pirate." She said to Killian as he was beside me, our hands still woven together. "Emma, come very gently, no protest and no sudden move."

Her forefinger was squeezing the gun and a bullet could get shot any time if I wasn't obeying. I felt Killian beginning to nervously move behind my back, silently telling me not to do what the witch wanted, but I didn't have a choice and he knew it. I couldn't do anything, even with my powers, because I couldn't risk for my son to get hurt. I would never forgive myself if something happened to him, I knew it. My eyes met Henry's for a second, and I pressed my lips together to avoid starting to yell when I saw the terror in his glance, still walking to join Zelena.

"Good girl, it's perfect like that. Now, you're going to listen to me very carefully and do everything I tell you to do, or something bad will happen. Here's how it's going to go : you're going to take the bracelet off me and you're going to let me put it on you, all right? And don't even think about trying something, or your son dies. And it would be a shame for something like this to happen, wouldn't it?"

I stared at her, my jaw clenched in anger and, without a word, I did everything she had asked me to, my teeth clashing in my mouth from the rage. She smiled in happiness once I had taken the bracelet off, and put it around my own wrist with a delighted grin. I knew this twist would only put us more in danger : she had powers now. But I couldn't risk my son's life, and she knew it, she had then manipulated me to get what she wanted.

"Thank you, Emma, it was so sweet of you." She jeered as I was biting the inside of my cheek to stop myself from punching her in the face. "Now, you're going to give me your gun, okay? Same for you, David. We don't want to risk a stray bullet, do we?"

Our guns were the last things able to protect us but, and we were aware of it, now that she had her magic back, the weapons were more useful to comfort us than to really help us in case of emergency. My dad, who had been too surprised to use his gun at the right moment, gave it to Zelena with a grunt, obviously so mad at himself for not acting faster when he'd had the chance to. I imitated him and found myself completely unarmed, taking a few steps back to walk away from the gun the witch hadn't let go of.

"Very well, now we can talk." She stated in a voice so calm I felt a shiver running up my spine.

I approached Killian to take his hand in a try to reassure myself. We were all in danger, and Zelena wanted to make me suffer more than anyone. She was there to get her daughter back, once and for all, but, exactly as last time, she wouldn't hesitate to hurt me to get what she wanted. I was feeling like yelling, but I also knew it wasn't going to help, and I was feeling so helpless while a little voice in the back of my head, the same one that was screaming earlier that someone I loved was in danger, whispered that something bad I still didn't know anything about was going to happen very soon, and I couldn't do anything to avoid it.

* * *

"Zelena, you and I both know we'll never going to give you Robyn." Regina sighted, shaking her head in annoyance.

"And you and I both know what I'm capable of." The witch calmly answered. "I already told you, if you don't give me my little girl back before tonight, someone is going to die. But I'm not telling you who, it would ruin the surprise."

She burst out laughing, telling me that her last stay in the cell had probably turned her insane. She was playing with the guns, making them pass from one hand to another, not paying attention to what could happen if she was actually shooting. She was doing everything to create an oppressive atmosphere, and I had to admit her try was working the way she wanted, because I was terrified. Her threats were scaring me to death : most of the people I cared about were in this room with me, and she hadn't given up on her revenge. She had then thought about what would hurt me most, and she was ready to act if we didn't give her what she wanted. But she knew that killing me and my baby was also going to hurt these heroes she was hating so much, and my death was still a possible option. I wasn't going to get out of this room unscathed, admitting that I would get out at all.

Regina was looking so distraught by the entire situation. Henry was in danger, but she couldn't tell her sister where Robyn was, because the little girl was her daughter as she had raised her like her own. She couldn't choose between her kids. I could see she was so scared, but she was also thanking every divinity she knew about we had decided to send the kids at Ashley's today of all days. If we hadn't, Robyn would have had no chance to get out of there unharmed.

I discreetly moved to try and ease my painful limbs. We were sitting on the floor for hours now, and the witch had refused, without surprise, for me to take a pillow and settle more comfortably. My back and my legs were killing me, but it was nothing compared to the pain that was now my stomach, so crushed by the fear I was feeling like throwing up. I was actually wondering how I was still conscious : my heart was pounding so fast it was making me dizzy, a cold sweat was covering my forehead, and I was trying to hold back a panic attack that was regularly rushing over me. I was feeling like sobbing and yelling at the same time, not getting why, every time I was happy, something like this was coming to ruin everything. Maybe I wasn't supposed to know happiness, and all the people I was getting attached to were destined to die or suffer, me with them. On top of that, the baby hadn't moved for a very long time, and it was scaring me beyond words : I didn't want to hurt it because of my panic, but I couldn't help myself. I was too afraid.

Killian noticed I was feeling bad and approached his hand from mine to squeeze my fingers between his and quietly encourage me. He had offered me to lean on him to avoid making too much effort a while ago, but Zelena had refused, as if she wanted to make us suffer even more. We weren't allowed to talk, or we would find ourselves with a gun glued to our heads, and it's in a very low voice that he asked me :

"You okay?"

I was bout to nod to reassure him. He was already way too concerned, and he couldn't have done anything if I had told him I was feeling sick, nor that the baby wasn't moving anymore. Our child was probably fine, and I was imagining things. For now.

But it was Zelena who answered first, aiming for Killian, who got stiff in a matter of second, my fingers still interlaced with his :

"Try to talk to her one more time, and you find yourself with a hole between your eyes, pirate."

"Bloody hell!" He got mad without paying attention to the danger he was incurring by intervening like that. "She's seven months pregnant, for god's sake! Why don't you want to give her a fucking pillow?! It's obvious she's feeling sick!"

"Killian, calm down." I said in a voice I wanted comforting, but it stayed tensed by the pain despite my efforts. "I'm fine, I promise."

"You better listen to her, lover boy, because I really, really want to hurt you right now. And to answer your question, I'm not going to deprive myself and not make her suffer."

"Zelena, Hook is right." My dad intervened in a confident tone. "Don't force her to do things she shouldn't. It's not good for the baby. You know what it's like to be pregnant..."

He got quiet too late, aware of the mistake he had just made, and we all turned to the witch to see her reaction, shivering in dread. My dad had good intentions, but Zelena was going to be in a rage now that we had talked about her pregnancy. She was so mad at me for not knowing what it was to carry her child until the end, and she was probably going to start yelling any minute now – I could see it at her face that was turning bright red and at her eyes shinning in fury. I closed my eyes to mentally prepare myself to the storm that was coming, what made my fear grow even stronger.

"No, I don't know what it is!" She ended up screaming. "Because your dear daughter here has decided to speed up my pregnancy! So no, I don't want to make her life easier because she has ruined mine, and my little girl has been taken away from me!"

"She was under the Dark one curse!" My mom defended me.

"This is not an excuse! I'm not going to forgive her, especially now that she's herself pregnant : we can finally have fun."

I didn't even try to defend myself, aware that opening my mouth would only worsen her anger. I felt tears appearing in my eyes again and pressed my lips together in order not to start crying. I had to stay strong, for my family, because they were all already way too worried without me adding things to it. I couldn't make their fear stronger, so I couldn't start sobbing, there was no way it was happening.

I suddenly felt a painful squeeze in my stomach, and held back a whimper at the last second. I placed my hand on my bump, worried about what was going on : I couldn't decide if the baby had just moved really violently, or if something bad was about to happen. I stroked my stomach with my thumb, trying to ease my child, and took some deep breaths, trying to convince myself the little one was feeling my fear, and that was the reason why it had kicked so roughly.

Fortunately, no one had noticed my pain, and I forced myself to pretend everything was okay. My family was way too busy arguing with Zelena, who was looking at the edge of losing all control. Bright red, her jaw clenched and her hair completely messed up, she had her fingers squeezed on one of the gun as her other hand was regularly clenching in a fist, as if she was forcing herself not to use her magic against one of us.

"Fuck, Zelena! You can't carry on blaming her like that!" Regina screamed in anger. "We all made terrible mistakes in this room! You should be happy your daughter is in good health and Emma's magic hasn't hurt the baby!"

"Happy?! HAPPY?!" Zelena yelled, so loud that her voice broke on the last word. "You took my daughter away from me! I don't even know her! She's my child, and she has no idea who I am! She should be with me! I had finally found someone to love me, and you had to take her away from me! You always take everything!"

On that note, she moved her wrist, and Regina found herself unable to breathe. I watched the scene without knowing what to do to help my friend, and my stomach got even more painful, if only it was possible. Regina was looking in so much pain, and her lips were slowly turning blue, telling me that the oxygen wasn't reaching her lungs anymore. No one was saying anything, afraid it would make things even worse, even Henry, who was looking at his mom with pure terror in his eyes.

I ended up convincing myself I had to do something to stop the witch without paying attention to the consequences, and quickly looked around the room to find something to throw at Zelena and distract her. It's at that exact moment that a horrible pain in my lower-stomach made me scream as everything was getting silent around me.

Not realizing what was happening, I bent to try and calm the pain down. It lasted for a few seconds before going away on its own, and I could finally breathe again. My eyes closed, I didn't notice that I had managed to create a diversion, and that Zelena had let Regina be just before she passed out.

"Swan?" Killian gasped, placing his hand on my leg and driving me back to reality. "Emma, love, what's wrong?"

I finally realized what had just happened, and opened my eyes to met Killian's gaze as I was on the edge of crying. My breathing had gotten irregular, and I finally understood this feeling I had since I had learned about Zelena's escape. I had been right all along. Something bad was happening, and it was concerning my baby.

Killian was staring at me, his eyes shinning in worry. Without paying attention to Zelena's previous warning, he moved his hand to run it through my hair and comfort me. The witch didn't say anything, wondering what was really going on. The room was filled in with a surreal silence, and I ended up saying in a voice muffled by the fear and the pain :

"It's the baby. It's coming."

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 **Please don't kill me for this ending? I hope you liked this chapter, see you monday! :)**


	35. Chapter 35

**So guys, I just wanted to talk a little bit before letting you read the chapter. So... Yeah, Jen has just announced (as you've probably read it already), that she's not coming back if there's a season 7. Emma Swan has meant and still means so much to me, Jen is my favorite actress, and that's why I've decided to stop watching the show if a season 7 does happen. OUAT without Emma Swan is not OUAT to me. Nevertheless, I will keep writing Captain Swan fanfictions, probably for a very long time. This one is almost over, but I have four others on their way, including one that's already written and that can be considered as the third volume of this fiction. Anyways, I just wanted to tell you that even if I'm not watching the show anymore, I'll keep writing, and updating, and even if Emma isn't on our screens anymore, I'll try to keep her living in my mind and stories.**

 **After this little note, Thanks a lot to oncer4life11, Captinswan lover, Emilee Amethyst, Nightingale5, Araya and Guest for the reviews. You, my fellow oncers, are absolutely awesome and I hope your journey with the show has been as fulfilling as mine. This show has changed my life for the best, and I will never, ever forget Emma Swan. I hope to be able to make her live a little bit longer in these little stories I write.**

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"It's the baby. It's coming."

My voice broke right after pronouncing those words, muffled by the lump that had formed in my throat, and I let go of a little whimper of distress. I couldn't believe in the reality of what was happening to me. It couldn't be it, I was only thirty one weeks pregnant, I couldn't go into labor now, not like that, not while I was held hostage by a crazy woman who wanted to kill me and my baby. Everything was falling apart, and it was all because of me. I didn't know what to do to calm myself down anymore. The reality of the situation suddenly hit me all at once, and I felt a lonely tear slowly streaming down my face. It meant I had to get out of there the faster possible, but I also knew that if I was giving birth now, the baby was in danger. It was too soon, it would need help to breathe as its lungs weren't completely formed yet, and it was going to be so tiny. It meant that if Zelena refused to let me go to the hospital, my baby would die, and I would probably too in the process, because this wouldn't go well, I could feel it in my bones.

I looked up at Killian to stare at him right into his eyes. The room was filled in an unreal silence, and everyone was looking at me as my loved ones were processing the horrible information I had just given them and were realizing how bad the situation was. Hook was staring at me with his eyes widened in dread, his lips parted, and his breathing irregular from the panic he was experiencing. He ended up starting to talk after a few seconds of quiet, in a voice broken by the fear :

"What... What do you mean?"

"I just had contractions." I explained, sobbing because of how horrible this statement was.

"But it can't be, you're supposed to give birth in two months!" He said, tears appearing in his beautiful eyes.

I violently bit my lower lip to try and calm myself down, aware that my fear was only making things worse. I didn't know what to do with myself anymore, I had no idea of how to cope with this event I hadn't expected. It was my mom who started to speak, and she said hastily :

"It can be a false alarm because you're stressed out, you need to calm down."

She got up, wanting to settle next to me and take me into her arms to comfort me. But Zelena stopped her with a violent gesture, her gun aiming at her head. She still hadn't said anything since I had told my family what was going on, but now that the surprise was gone, she was looking quite confident again and was deeply thinking about something. In a low voice, she ordered :

"If you move once again, you end up six feet under."

My mom didn't protest, knowing that the witch was perfectly capable of shooting, and she sat back down, looking completely panicked by the fact she couldn't do anything to help me. My stomach twisted a little bit more, and I felt so sick all at once. I was feeling like crying and yelling at the same time, I wanted to break everything around me, because my child was in danger and it was all because of me. If I had managed to keep calm, things wouldn't have been that bad. Hell, if I hadn't sped up Zelena's pregnancy in the first place, everything would have been just fine, and my baby would have been safe. I was hating myself so much because I was always ruining everything and hurting the people I loved.

I suddenly felt a hand grabbing mine, and Killian moved to face me, sitting on the floor, looking straight into my eyes. His were shinning with terror and reddened by his unshed tears, but he gently pressed my fingers between his and forced himself to offer me a reassuring look to help calm my panic attack down.

"Haven't you heard what I just said, pirate?" Zelena threatened, her jaw clenched in anger.

"I don't have a choice! I do this or she gives birth right there, so shut the fuck up, witch!" Killian got mad, my hand still tightly squeezed in his.

"And why should that be a problem?" Zelena answered with a twisted smile that sent shivers down my spine. "It's good. It's not what I had planned, but it's perfect. It means you need to go to the hospital, and I won't let you leave this room unless you give me Robyn back. So why should I try to stop the contractions?"

"Damn it Zelena!" Regina, who was also looking so scared by what was happening, yelled. "You're doing all of this for your daughter, you can understand this baby could die if it comes now!"

"Good! That way, your dear Savior will finally know how it feels like to be separated from her child!"

"Your daughter is alive and well!" My dad screamed, looking like he was about to jump at her throat because he was seeming in a rage. "This baby didn't do anything to you! It's innocent, and you can't risk its life like that!"

Huge tears were now streaming down my cheeks and a husky sob shook my shoulders. The fight they were having was only increasing my nervousness, especially now that what I was the most scared of had been said out loud : the baby could die, while it didn't have anything to do with all of this. I knew I wouldn't stand losing it. I was feeling like I was already knowing it so well, I had felt it move inside of me for weeks, and was loving it so much while I hadn't met it yet. It was my child, and it couldn't die, it just couldn't.

A new contraction started, even stronger than the last one, and I felt my face stiffening in pain, bending to escape it and letting go of a husky groan. Killian gently stroked my skin to silently encourage me, and Henry started to scream, making everyone startle in the room :

"ENOUGH! Mom doesn't need this right now! She needs calm. Stop fighting, can't you see it's only worsening her pain?"

"Because you think I'm going to stop now that I see how bad it makes her feel?" Zelena answered with delight.

"Swan." Killian started in a very gentle voice that was contrasting with this awful situation. "Sweetheart, look at me."

I obeyed and opened my eyes, that I had closed in an unsuccessful try to escape the pain. Hook slowly caressed my hand until I had met his gaze, lifted it up to press a light kiss on my knuckles, and even if his voice was still muffled by the sobs he was refusing to let go, his tone was familiar and comforting :

"Don't listen to her, all right?" He resumed in a low voice. "You just have to breathe, beautiful. It's going to be okay. Breathe really slowly, like we have learned when we were taking these birth preparation classes before Liam was born, you remember? Good, keep it like that, my love. You just need to calm down. Everything is going to be perfectly okay."

His voice was so reassuring I felt a huge weight leaving my shoulders. I admired his courage for a second : he was as terrified as I was, but he was forcing himself to stay calm so I would feel better. But I got interrupted in my thoughts by another contraction, and I let go of a sob mixed with a cry of pain. Killian continued, still with this great gentleness, even if I was hearing his throat obstructed by the fear of seeing me aching so much.

"Emma, I know it's horribly painful, but just breathe, it's gonna get better. Everything can still fall into place. We're going to make it together, we always do, right? And our child is going to be okay. Just try to calm down, I'm right here with you, you're safe. You're not alone. Think about something comforting, all right?"

I slowly nodded and forced myself to obey. Flashes of our honey moon made their way through my foggy mind : our walks hand in hand, our afternoon spent in the cabin lost in Central Park, our kisses shared at the carnival. In an impulse, I grabbed his hook with my free hand, trying to comfort myself and, for the first time, I managed to ignore Zelena, who was still threatening everyone, and the panic I was feeling in my family. I just completely lost myself in Killian's clear blue eyes and convinced myself he was right and everything was going to be just fine.

* * *

But his try hadn't worked. I had hoped for a wonderful second everything would be okay, as he had told me, but the contractions had continued, stronger and stronger, and my water had broken, what had only worsened my panic and Killian's at the same time. It meant I couldn't go back anymore, the baby was coming for real. It meant I had to get to the hospital the quicker possible if I wanted it to have the slightest chance of making it alive.

I didn't even have enough strength left to cry. Without epidural, the pain was so strong I was feeling like I could pass out any second now. The contractions were getting closer and closer, not giving me any rest, what was telling me the baby would be there really soon. And Zelena had no intention of letting me go. She was even looking delighted by the situation, and was staring at us with a twisted smile on her face.

We had moved and weren't sitting in the middle of the office anymore. Hook was leaning against a wall, and my back was glued to his chest as I was sitting between his legs. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but feeling his body against mine and hearing him whispering comforting words to my ear every time I was in pain was helping me a lot. My head was resting in the crook of his neck, my fingers interlaced with his as my other hand was squeezing his hook. My hair was drenched with sweat and I was feeling like I could die at every new contraction. My mom was also sitting next to me while my dad, Henry and Regina were holding back so I could have a bit of privacy. Despite my blurry mind, I was still conscious enough to refuse for my son to see me in such a lamentable state.

A new contraction rushed over me while I had barely had the time to breathe after the last one. I bent over with a cry of pain and held Killian's hand so tight I was feeling like I was hurting him a little as he was whispering inconsistent words in my ear, completely panicked as well. He was losing us again, and he couldn't do anything about it. My mom said in a comforting voice, running her hand through my hair to push them away from my face.

"You're doing great, baby."

"What's the point of doing great if the baby doesn't survive, tell me?" I panted without even thinking about my words, my mind way too blurry because of the pain and the fear.

"Zelena, bloody hell, do something!" Killian yelled, my hands still in his as I was collapsing against his chest, completely exhausted. "You can't let her suffer like that! You can't let a baby die, for god's sake!"

"And why not?" The witch sneered. "If you had decided to give me my Robyn back, Emma would have been at the hospital for a long time already. All of this is your entire fault, and you know it."

Regina had tried to trick her and make her believe she was going to take her to her daughter but, without surprise, the plan hadn't worked. Zelena had requested us to bring Robyn to her and hadn't wanted to leave the office, knowing all too well that at the moment she would step out of the building, we would all leave for the hospital. And Regina couldn't accept to leave the little girl to an unstable woman. The kid would then be in danger, and I was getting that answering the witch's request wasn't a possible solution. But if we didn't find a way to get me out of there soon, the baby would die, and probably me with it as I was feeling like I couldn't survive this without medical assistance.

"We're not going to leave Robyn with you and you know that!" Regina yelled back. "But you can't put an innocent baby in danger in order to get what you want! Don't make the same mistake I made when I forced my enemies to part from their child! I know you're ready to do anything, but it's a new born, for god's sake! Emma made sure your daughter was safe when she did what she did!"

"Yeah, well, I want to make her suffer anyways! And what better way to do it than forcing her to watch her child die without being able to do anything to save it!"

The pain was too strong for me to answer right away and I needed a few seconds for her words to make their way through my mind. It was too much for me : I couldn't let her take my child like that without doing anything to stop her. I couldn't let her break our family. I needed to defend myself, I had to fight, for those I loved, like I had always done. So, in a voice so muffled it was unrecognizable, I yelled :

"Zelena, please! You can make me pay as much as you want, and it's okay for you to blame me because of what I did, but don't hurt my baby! You remember Robyn's birth, right? You remember how much you already loved her while you hadn't seen her yet? You know what it is, to love a child. Leave my baby alone, I'm begging you, it's innocent! It has nothing to do with what I did. Robyn has been taken away from you, but you know she's safe, somewhere, healthy, happy. Can you imagine how different it would be if you knew she hadn't had the chance to grow up, to live her first Christmas, her first steps, her first birthday... If we hadn't given her a chance to live? You're doing all of this for your little girl, so please, think about it! You're doing this because you're a mother, and I am too. You can't kill an innocent, a baby that has nothing to do with this crazy story just to get your revenge!"

I got interrupted by the pain once again, and whimpered, closing my eyes. The baby was going to come soon, I could feel it. And if I didn't get away very quickly, it was going to die, because of what I had done all those years ago, and I would never forgive myself if something was happening to it. My child was deserving to live, and the idea os someone taking that away from it was unbearable.

When I got quiet, I realized the room was now completely silent, what intrigued me a lot. Not understanding what was going on, I opened my eyes again to see that everyone was now looking at Zelena. The witch, standing in the middle of the office, was as still as a statue. She didn't move for a few seconds that seemed to last hours to me, and I wondered if I hadn't fainted and if all of this wasn't a product of my troubled imagination. But she ended up turning to face me, and I saw a strange light dancing deep into her eyes. I didn't understand the meaning of this flame shinning in her gaze right away, but she opened her mouth and said in a sob, as if she had to fight against herself to pronounce her sentence :

"Go."

Nobody moved. Everyone's eyes were staring at the witch, all wondering if we had heard correctly, because it was sounding unreal. A strange silence filled in the room for a few seconds while even the time itself had seemed to stop, and it's Zelena who started to talk again :

"Go before I change my mind, you fools!"

Her comment acted as a trigger on us. In a matter of seconds, everyone was standing, and Killian placed one arm in my back and the other behind my knee to gently lift me up from the ground, aware that I was unable to walk in the state I was in. He didn't say anything, all his muscles stiffened to support my weight and, his jaw clenched, he quickly headed for the door while, barely able to keep my eyes open, I didn't really know where I was anymore. He got stopped by my mom, who rushed toward him to say :

"Killian, wait! We left the cars far away from here to hide where we were, remember? You won't be able to carry her all the way to the hospital..."

"Well, I need to get her there!" Killian panted.

An horrible pain invaded my stomach again, and I got stiff, wrapping my arms around Hook's neck and burying my face into the crook of his neck to try and calm myself down. Nothing was really making sense in my mind blurred by the pain anymore : I just wanted to get to the hospital, no matter how, so my baby could be safe.

Killian kissed the top of my head, and I felt his panic so strong that my stomach twisted a little bit more. He was so terrified as well, and he was forced to look at me suffering without being able to do anything to help me. Very gently, with tears in his voice, he whispered to my ear.

"It's gonna be okay, baby. We're gonna make it, I promise, it's just for a little bit longer."

"We need to transfer you there with magic." Regina offered, before turning to her sister, who was still standing in the middle of the office, tears streaming down her cheeks now that she had realized she had lost and her plan had failed. "Zelena, can you take the bracelet off me, please? After that, we can talk."

She hadn't dared asking for her sister to use her powers herself, scared she would get mad and suddenly change her mind as it would have meant I was basically dead, but against all odds, the young redhead gestured for something, and we found ourselves in the hall of the hospital. I was still in Hook's arms, my breathing jerky because of the pain, and my mom was beside us as well. There was quiet for an endless second as we were trying to process the information, before she said :

"Okay, stay right there, I'm going to get Whale."

She disappeared without adding anything. I wasn't even relieved to finally be at the hospital : sure, it meant the baby had a chance to live, but it was happening way too early. I was scared it was going to suffer, I was scared it was going to die, and I was hating myself so much for not keeping calm when I'd had to, because if I hadn't panicked, it would still have been safe inside of me.

Killian felt my distress without me needing to tell it out loud. With a great gentleness, he carried me to a bench that was placed in a corner, and settled me on it. I immediately took my head in my hands and started to cry, aware my world had just crumbled in front of my eyes. I was so scared our family would be broken and things would never be the same again. Killian sat down next to me, took my hand ans said in a voice muffled by his tears :

"Everything is going to be just fine. We're here now, the baby is going to be okay and healthy, the doctors are going to take good care of the little one. We're going to make it. God, Em', I'm so sorry, you have to live this. You're so brave. I love you, and you're the strongest person I've ever met."

Despite the situation, his words made me feel a little bit better. Without adding anything, he wrapped his arms around me to pull me closer to him, kissing the top of my head and still trying to comfort me every time a contraction was making me sob harder. A few minutes later, Whale ran toward us, bringing with him the hope that, maybe, everything would be okay again.

* * *

The doctor had arrived right one time. I had barely put on a hospital grown that they were already taking me to the delivery room. I was dizzy, and couldn't really tell where I was anymore. All that was existing was this terrible pain, and I was trying to focus on Killian's hand wrapped around my own. He was whispering comforting words to my ear, but I couldn't even understand what he was saying. Everything was sounding distorted, as if I was underwater, my brain too foggy to be able to hear normally.

Despite my efforts to comfort myself, I could feel something was going wrong. I could see it at the nurse's frowns and at Whale, who was checking on me all the time to make sure I hadn't fainted. I closed my eyes and focused on the most important thing to do for now : giving birth to my baby. It had to survive and be healthy. It couldn't be otherwise, I wouldn't let it happen. Our family wouldn't be broken, I couldn't believe it, I was refusing to.

"You're doing amazing, darling. It's just for a little bit longer, I know you can do it." Killian whispered, his words finally making sense in my mind.

I felt a drop of sweat streaming down my temple. A red veil was now covering everything around me, and I was feeling like I didn't have any strength left in my body. It's with a courage I didn't know I had left that I managed to obey Whale, who was encouraging me to push one more time. And then, finally the pain stopped and I collapsed on my pillows, trying to catch my breath as the ceiling was spinning above my head.

"It's a girl!" Whale stated, taking the tiny baby in his arms.

I felt Killian's hand squeezing mine, and tears appeared into my eyes. A girl. He wanted a girl. Our little princess, she was there, right in front of us, she was alive.

There was a wonderful second during which a wave of pure happiness rushed over me, because my little girl was there. But, soon, the joy left to be replaced by a huge panic. The room was staying horribly silent. The baby wasn't crying nor breathing. Her skin was slowly turning blue as Whale's face was so pale we could have through he was sick.

My heart got so painful and a horrible nausea made my stomach turn upside down. She wasn't breathing. She wasn't breathing, and she was going to die if we didn't find a solution in the next few seconds. In an impulse, I yelled in a voice shaking from the despair, hoping it would make a miracle happen :

"NO!"

Hook was still holding my hand, but had pulled away a little bit to watch the nurses trying to make our baby breathe. I could see tears streaming down his face as he was witnessing our baby girl being so close to death. Deciding it was enough, I tried to get back up, because my daughter needed her mother beside her to fight. But none of my muscles responded, and I collapsed on the mattress, vaguely hearing a nurse screaming :

"Here, she's losing too much blood!"

Several shadows ran toward me as my sight was getting darker and darker. I looked up to understand what was happening, and whimpered in distress when I saw the amount of blood spread around me on the bed. I briefly turned my head to meet Killian's horrified gaze, who had turned to look at me when he had heard the nurse's scream.

"Emma, please, no!"

I didn't even have the strength to answer him. Black spots invaded everything, and, all at once, an image appeared right in front of me.

It was a ten or eleven-month-old baby, with beautiful clear blue eyes. It was standing on shaky legs, and looked up at me. With a little cry of joy, it made a few steps toward me and landed in my arms, laughing. I understood it was my baby girl I was holding, and tried to keep her close to me to not lose her again, but the vision changed and I couldn't do anything to control what was happening.

A two-year-old little girl was standing, her back to me. She was chasing after a red ball in the park. She eventually caught it, and turned to look at me. She had messy blond hair and big blue eyes. She was stunning, and was looking happy. She burst out laughing and, again, the image disappeared.

The little girl had grown up. She was six or seven years old now. Looking down at a notebook, absent-mindlessly biting a pencil, she was doing her homeworks. Her beautiful blond hair was tied into a long braid in her back. She was looking like a princess She looked up at me and smiled with so much gentleness my heart skipped a beat. In a calm and confident voice, she stated : "Don't be scared, mommy."

Then everything got faster. The images started to scroll while the little girl was growing up, becoming a gorgeous teenager with a proud light shinning in her eyes. I couldn't tell if I was having a vision of my future or if all of this was only a product of my imagination. I didn't know what to think about this, but I couldn't do anything, watching these images without understanding what they were trying to tell me. Finally, the movie stopped. The young woman that was facing me was in her twenties. She had the same blond hair as mine, and was looking like me a lot, but she had Killian's blue eyes and smile. Her chin up, a confident expression on her face, she was looking happy. I reached for her, but the image faded and I got back to reality again.

Baby's cries were now ringing against the walls of the room, but I didn't understand what it meant given the almost unconscious state I was in. I couldn't really see, but I heard Hook's voice begging me as his fingers were running through my drenched hair :

"Swan, no! Emma, come back to me! Please stay with me, fight, you're strong, you can survive this, I know you can... She's alive, our little girl's alive! And she needs her mother! Henry and Liam need you! I need you... Please, my love, I can't lose you..."

His voice broke and I wanted to obey to avoid making him suffer even more because I just wanted him to be happy. I opened my mouth to try and comfort him, but no sound got out. I was feeling captive in my own body, not even feeling the pain anymore. I was slowly collapsing into a soft and painless place, and didn't try to resist the call.

Tired of fighting, I closed my eyes and everything went dark.

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 **Okay, sorry for the other cliffhanger guys! I hope you liked the chapter anyways, and I hope to see you Friday. My journey with the show is now over, but it continues through fanfictions... I hope you'll stay with me during this! :)**


	36. Chapter 36

**Thanks a lot to oncer4life11, BabyHazelEyes199, Nightingale5, Araya and Emilee Amethyst for the reviews! :)**

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I got awakened by unpleasant tingling in my limbs, and slowly got out of the heavy state of unconsciousness I was in. I tried to move and get rid of the disturbing sensation, without opening my eyes either as my eyelids were feeling so heavy they were a bit painful. I was surprised to notice my legs were so weak it was hard for me to move them, and, my brain a bit blurry because of my health and the state of exhaustion I was in, I didn't recall right away what had happened a bit earlier in the day.

It's only when I decided to open my eyes a few minutes later that everything fell into place in my head. I felt my heart skipping a beat, my stomach twisted, almost making me sick on its way, and I understood that my weakness was probably coming from the fact I had lost a huge amount of blood. I was feeling a hand tightly holding mine, and slowly turned my head to look at Hook, who was sitting on a chair beside the bed. I opened my mouth, wanting to ask him how was our baby girl :

"Killian..." I stated in a voice so husky it was unrecognizable.

He didn't give me the time to resume my sentence and ask my questions. He had immediately noticed I was awake, and in an impulse of love, he approached me to kiss every inch of my face. I held him close to my chest, gently caressing his back to comfort him, understanding his reaction : he had thought he had lost me, I had probably almost died in the delivery room, and I was myself feeling pretty relieved to have him near me. The touch of his lips against my skin was so comforting I felt my heartbeat slowing down a little. He ended up pulling away from me, and I noticed the big bags he had under his red eyes from crying too much. I took his hook in my hand, wanting to reassure him as seeing him in such distress was making my heart ache. He said in a broken voice, cupping my face with his right hand and gently stroking my cheek with his thumb:

"How are you feeling, sweetheart? God, I was so scared..."

"How is she?" I answered with fear in my shaky voice, not answering his question. "How is our baby?"

"I don't know exactly." He answered, looking so sad, and I placed my free hand above his on my face to feel him even closer to me. "I wanted to stay with you in case you..." He didn't finish his sentence and swallowed thickly as if this thought was making him physically sick, and I briefly stroked his skin to ease him and showed him I was okay. "But your parents and Henry are in the waiting room, they've gone to see her several times. They told me she was stabilized for now, but she's under respiratory assistance."

My heart skipped a beat at his words and I started to get dizzy. My daughter, my baby girl needed help to breathe. I should have known it : her lungs were probably not completely formed yet, but the thought of my little baby not even able to breathe by herself was making my heart ache in fear. I wanted to see her more than anything. I needed to know how she was doing, I needed to make sure she was going to make it. I then said hastily without waiting for Killian to add something :

"I wanna see her."

"Emma, you've lost a lot of blood." He gently answered, freeing his hand from my grip to run it through my hair, tears shinning deep inside his eyes. "You need to rest. Whale said the fact you're alive is a miracle. You can't do any efforts right now, I'm not sure it's a good idea..."

"Killian, our little girl is fighting for her life right now. She needs her parents, she needs to feel us beside her." I countered in a husky voice, but ready to argue to get what I wanted. "I want to see her. I need to."

He seemed to think for a few minutes, but he ended up nodding. He was so worried for me, but he also knew I was right : our baby needed our help, and there was no way we were staying here doing nothing while she was fighting out there. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, and I noticed how exhausted he seemed to be, as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He finally started to talk again to say in a low voice :

"Okay, you're right. She needs us. I'll go ask a nurse if she can bring you a wheel chair, you can't walk right now, it's not good for you. I'm going to send your parents here while I'm gone, I... I really don't want you to stay alone right now."

He didn't leave right away and took the time to lean forward and press a tender kiss on my forehead, as if he was scared I was going to disappear if he was walking away from me. Sensing his distress and despite my own fear, I wanted to reassure him. Very gently, I then placed my hand above his, which was placed on my shoulder, and whispered :

"I love you. I'll be okay."

I saw his lips moving to form a very small smile, but it quickly faded away. He approached me once again to kiss me, on my lips this time, then let go of my hand to walk backward toward the door, not wanting to leave my sight as not seeing me for a while was probably scaring him to death. He ended up getting out of the room, but offered me a long stare before going, as if he was scared he would never see me again.

The door closed in silence. I was getting his fear so well, and his wish to stay close to me was understandable. I was myself feeling pretty anxious now that his comforting presence was gone. For what I had understood, I had nearly died earlier, and he had almost lost me again, for good this time. But for now, the baby was the most important. She needed us. We were her parents, and it was our part to protect her and support her. My own health was coming in second place.

The room was pitch-dark, what made me understand it was night outside. I had lost all sense of time or space, and now that Hook was gone, my heart was pounding so fast in my chest it was almost painful. Now that I was finding myself alone with my fear, I was feeling like it was devouring me from the inside. My baby was between life and death, all of this because I hadn't managed to keep calm when I had needed to. If I hadn't panicked, I would still have been pregnant and my baby wouldn't have been sick right now. It was all my fault, once again. _The Savior_ , the called me. They were all so wrong, because I was only good at ruining everything and making the people I loved suffer.

The door opened again to reveal my parents and Henry as I was lost in my dark thoughts. They all rushed toward me and, despite my weakness and the fact I was feeling sick, I managed to sit down to all take them in my arms in an intense embrace. We didn't say anything for a few seconds as their jerky breaths were ringing against the walls. I was just relieved that my family was safe and that they had survived the attack without being hurt.

"We've been so scared." My mom ended up whispering, cupping my face in her hands, her eyes filled in with unshed tears.

"Have you seen the baby?" I asked, keeping Henry's hand in mine.

Feeling the presence of one of my children beside me was comforting me so much. My son was safe and healthy, and even if I knew he would need time to get better after what he had just lived, he wasn't physically hurt. My dad slowly nodded and said in a gentle voice, a bit broken by his sadness :

"We have, Hook's told us you wanted to see her as well."

"How is she?" I asked in a low voice.

"She's okay for now. But we're not going to lie to you." My mom gently admitted. "She's really tiny. Don't be too surprised when you'll see her, all right?"

I nodded to show her I was getting her explanation. They were all about to cry, but I didn't think for one second about sobbing with them. The fear was more important than anything, and all that mattered for now was to know if my daughter was all right. I didn't have the time to cry. I needed to be strong, for my little girl.

"Is Liam okay?" I asked in a weak voice, laying back down on the mattress and feeling the need to know if my baby boy was safe.

I was happy he hadn't witnessed anything that had happened recently. He had lived neither being an hostage nor seeing me suffer so much, and I was so glad about it. He was still very young, and he had already been in danger so many times, I was just relieved he was safe for now.

"He's perfectly fine." My dad assured, as he had placed his hand on my head as if he wanted to protect me from all harm. "He's sleeping at Ashley's with the other kids. We lied to him and told him he was attending a sleepover. We didn't want to tell him you had given birth and you were at the hospital. It wasn't a good idea to worry him before bedtime. We'll tell him everything tomorrow and bring him here so you and Hook can see him."

"Thanks." I whispered, so grateful. "You did good. The situation is already complicated enough like that, and he's till so young. I would like to protect him, even if it's hard with everything that's happening..."

"We get it." My dad kindly smiled.

"About Zelena..." My mom added.

I nodded to encourage her to continue. I hadn't asked what had happened when I had left for the hospital because, for now, everything that was mattering to me was making sure my family and the baby was okay. But I knew my mom was going to keep on talking anyways, regardless of me agreeing with her or not. I knew her now, I was aware that when she was frightened, she always needed to talk, no matter the subject, just to keep on hoping. If it was helping her, I was certainly not going to stop her from giving me the information she had about the witch.

"Regina is with her at the station. Zelena has removed the bracelet she had put around her sister's wrist, and has let her taking her magic away without trying to protest. She's looking completely lost now that her plan has failed for good. They are both talking right now. Regina thinks that if she keeps on behaving and if we don't give her her magic back, she could arrange something so Zelena will be able to see Robyn. She wants to give her another chance, because she knows how hard it is to be separated from a kid. And she would like Robyn to have a chance to know her biological mom if Zelena isn't a danger for her little girl. Everything is being discussed right now."

I was about to nod again, but the door opened and I sat back down, helping myself up with my elbows, to see Killian entering the room, a nurse pushing a wheel chair behind him. Eager to finally go meet my daughter, I tried to get back up, but the simple fact of sitting on the edge of the bed asked me so much strength black spots started to invade my sight. A sudden and acute migraine started to pound in my head, and despite my efforts to not show my family how sick I was feeling, Killian noticed it right away. He came to wrap his arm around my waist, and whispered to my ear :

"Don't try to do too much at once, darling. Please, let me help you."

I stopped moving and tried to smile at him, but only managed to give him half a grin. I knew helping me and making sure I was all right was comforting him a lot. He had been so scared for me, and I was getting that being overprotective was making him feel better, and I was most certainly not going to take that away from him. I then let him almost carry me to the wheel chair, and the nurse placed my drips, one of blood and one of water, on a hook above my head. The young woman made sure everything was okay for me before saying in a gentle voice :

"You know where are the incubators, right? I suppose you prefer to go together. I'm staying close if there is the slightest problem, don't hesitate to call, okay?"

I thanked her by a little nod, grateful that she was leaving us alone together for this moment, and I watched her getting out of the room. My heart was pounding so fast in my already painful chest. I so wanted to go see my little girl, to hold her close to me, but I was also so scared of what I was going to discover. They had made me understand she was very weak, and I was scared she wouldn't survive this. Sure, she was stabilized for now, but she was helped by a respirator, and would probably have to stay at the hospital for a long time before getting better. The days that were coming were going to be crucial, I knew it. I swallowed thickly, horribly worried, and my mom gently ran her hand through my hair to show me her support, getting my fear. At the same time, Hook placed his hand on my shoulder, sensing my terror as well and, without saying anything, I approached my hand to squeezed his fingers between mine. Then, a few seconds later and still without saying anything, my mom began to push the chair, and we started to slowly walk in the hospital's corridors.

They were empty at this late hour. Only a few nurses were still working, and they all watched us walking by, a sorry look on their faces. Everyone was knowing us in this town, and I knew every single one of our friends were feeling sincerely sad for what was happening to us. Most of them were probably wondering what kind of curse had hit our family so we could never be happy more than a few months in a row without something really bad hitting us right after. Sometimes, I was wondering this as well. And then I was remembering that, most of the time, all those horrible things were coming by my fault. And I was hating myself for it.

My mom ended up stopping in front of a huge bay window. The neonatal intensive care unit. As I was sitting down, I couldn't see what was happening behind it, but looking up at Killian, I noticed his face had transformed to display a deeply painful expression. I then understood that what I was about to see was going to hurt me really badly. I chose to ignore the pain in my body, and straightened in my chair to finally see my baby, my heart pounding so fast that I felt like I couldn't breathe for a few seconds.

She was there, laying in an incubator looking ten times too big for her, her eyes closed. She was so small. Electrodes were placed on her little stomach, and she was linked to several machines monitoring her breathing. Her tummy was moving up and down at a slow pace, but I understood it was only thanks to the respirator that was keeping her alive.

She was looking so fragile I was feeling like she could break at the slightest move. We hadn't even had the time to buy her clothes before her birth. She was wearing a little pink beanie borrowed to the hospital, and was only dressed with a diaper. She was looking peaceful, sleeping like that, but I knew it was just an illusion. She was fighting for her life.

Nobody talked for a while, we were all holding our breath, as if something important was about to happen. Killian was still looking deeply shocked, but he hadn't let go of my shoulder. Gently, without really thinking about what I was doing, I freed myself from his embrace to rip the drips out of my arm and get on my feet. Every single part of my body was aching, I had a migraine, but none of that mattered. I just wanted to get close to my daughter, share a little bit of her pain, take a bit of her distress, discharge her of a burden that was way too heavy to bear. With a few shaky steps, I walked toward the window, and no one tried to stop me, knowing all too well they couldn't make me change my mind. In a sort of trance, staring at my baby girl, I placed my palm against the glass, as if I wanted to show her I was there. And then I stood still.

After a while, I felt a presence beside me. I left my baby's sight to turn my head and look at Killian, who was now standing next to me. I saw tears running down his cheeks, he was quietly crying. I still didn't feel the need to evacuate my pain, and I couldn't understand why, because I should have been the first one to sob given the cocktail of hormones flowing through my veins. Very gently, I cupped his face to wipe off his tears, and leaned to press a little kiss on the corner of his lips. He turned to look at me, wrapped both his arms around my waist, pulling me into a tight embrace and kissing my temple as I was resting my painful head against his shoulder.

We stayed for a long time in that position, snuggled against each other, watching our baby breathing. And then, without surprise, my legs ended up giving up on me. After all, I wasn't linked to the blood drip anymore, and I had made way too many efforts given my state. The accident didn't really matter, as Hook was still holding me close and caught me before I hit the ground. He helped me sit back down on the chair, almost carrying me to it, and a nurse rushed toward us when she saw what was going on. In an almost severe way, she said while placing the drips back into my arm.

"You have to stay still, you really can't walk right now."

"Can we go hold her?" Killian asked, gently running his hand through my hair to ease me.

He had said out loud what I was hoping for in silence for what seemed like an eternity. I wanted to take her against me, to feel her move in my arms and watch her simply breathe to reassure myself and make sure she was alive and was going to survive this. But the nurse shook her head with a sad expression on her face :

"It's gonna be difficult tonight. She's linked to a lot of machines. But tomorrow, we will let you take her, it's a promise. We want her to have the most human contacts possible despite her state of health, to encourage the attachment. But meanwhile, it's very late. You should go and get some rest, you've had a tough day."

And she walked away without adding anything. The silence filled in the place for a few seconds, the disappointment crackling in the air. I could guess that Killian wanted to take our baby girl in his arms more than anything as well, but it was impossible for now, and it was so frustrating. I could have stayed all night in front of this window, simply watching her sleep, but my mom started to talk again in a low voice :

"The nurse is right, you both need to rest. Exhausting yourself won't help the baby."

I decided to pretend I hadn't heard her. I didn't want to go back to my room while my daughter was there, I wanted to look after her, to protect her, even if it was from far away. But Killian squatted in front of me to look at me in the eyes. I could see he was still crying, and, once again, my stomach twisted in sadness. I hated to see him in such distress, and I would have done anything for him to feel better.

"Your mother is right, sweetheart. You need to go and get some rest."

"Do you think she's cold?" Was the only thing I managed to ask him in a whisper.

"I'll go ask a nurse to bring her a blanket." My dad promised.

"Em', please." Hook begged, seeing that I was still not convinced to move. "You need to sleep and get some strength back. I don't want something to happen to you, not in addition to everything."

I ended up nodding slowly, ready to do everything for him to feel better. He gently took me in his arms in a quiet thank you, and I buried my face into the crook of his neck to breathe him. And then, a bit forced by my family, even if I knew they were right, I agreed on joining my hospital room again.

I insisted to take a shower despite how sick I was feeling. I didn't know why, but I was feeling like finding myself under the hot water would help me to feel better. Killian entered the shower with me to make sure I wasn't fainting, but I also knew it was because he didn't want to leave me after what had happened. We stayed in a tight embrace for a long while as the hot water was running down our skins.

My parents had brought me clothes to change myself. I put on a wide blouse and leggings without saying a thing. I didn't want to talk, everything was bringing me back to my little girl, and I was only thinking about her. Killian respected my silence, as I was respecting his tears. Once in the bed and despite my drips, he managed to join me on the mattress to take me into his arms. I snuggled against his strong body, both my arms wrapped around him, my face buried in his neck. The silence was only broken by our breaths, mine calm and steady, his jerky because of his sobs. I kissed him several times on the chin, trying to comfort him as my fingers were stroking his back. And after a long while spent at trying to reassure each other, we ended up falling asleep.

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 **Okay, so no more cliffhangers for this fiction hehe! There's only 4 chapters left after this one, but I have another fiction that's already written and that I consider to be the next volume of this story. I hope you liked this chapter, and see you Monday for more!**


	37. Chapter 37

**Thanks to Nightingale53 , oncer4life11, Emilee Amethyst and Araya (the subject of the name will be approached in this chapter :) ) for the reviews!**

 **So... Today has been pretty rough on me. I've had to say goodbye to Emma Swan, and it was hard as hell. That's why this fiction and those I will publish later are even more important to me than before. They're the only thing keeping me close to her so... I'm more excited than ever to share these stories with you! (and I'm going back to cry a river haha)**

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The night had been pretty short and restless. We had only slept for a few hours, constantly awakened by horrible nightmares that were leaving us panting, our head buried into the other's neck, and we had spent most of the night trying to comfort each other. As soon as the sun had risen in the sky, I asked Killian if we could call a nurse and go see the baby to finally meet her, but he answered that my parents had planned to bring Liam to the hospital as soon as he would be awake so we could see him and explain to him what was going on. I then gave up on the idea of joining my little girl right away : I didn't want Liam to meet his little sister before we could tell him she was born and explain to him she was between life and death. I wanted to protect my son the best I could given the horrible situation we were in, and I wanted to talk to him for a little while to make sure he was understanding and try to avoid making him panic. So I forced myself to go take a shower, to get dress and fix my messy hair to look good for him and not worry him to much when he would see us. When my parents entered the hospital room, Liam in my mother's arms, I had even managed to glue a fake smile on my face.

"Mommy! Daddy!" He shouted, immediately starting to wriggle to escape his grandmother's grip.

She placed him on my bed and he instantly came to snuggle between me and Killian, who was sitting beside me, one of his arm wrapped around me to hold me very close to his chest. We hadn't left each other once since I had woken up, feeling the need to be the closest possible to each other to try and feel a little bit better. We were sharing the same pain, we were understanding the other's feelings, and it was comforting to feel him close to me, to be sure one thing in my life wasn't going to crumble and he would stay there by my side. My parents looked at us for a few seconds as I was kissing Liam's forehead, and the silence filled in the room for a little while. I was the one to break the quiet and asked in a husky voice :

"Where is Henry?"

"He's with Regina. They'll come to see you later, we wanted to give you a little time alone with Liam."

I nodded, not even thinking about asking what had happened to Zelena. I had most important things to do right now. Explaining the situation to my son wasn't going to be easy, I knew it, and I didn't want to worry him or make him sad. All my thoughts were then devoted to my family, and there was no place left for anything else.

"We'll leave you to it." My dad then started, grabbing my mom's hand to take her with him outside. "We're in the waiting room if you need anything."

I thanked him with a little nod and looked at them disappearing behind the door. I was so grateful they were giving us the time to be alone with our son : Liam needed to hear the news from his parents' mouths. It was going to be a difficult moment for my family, but we needed to stay strong. I had to do it for my son, who didn't have anything to do with all this mess but was at the same time horribly impacted by the situation. If the baby wasn't surviving, he would suffer as well, and I wanted to protect him and prevent him from getting hurt.

"You sick, Mommy?" Liam asked in a little voice, breaking the silence that had filled in the room.

I forced myself to smile once again and reassured him by running my hand through his hair, seeing that he was a bit concerned. His question was understandable : he was seeing me laying down in a hospital bed, linked to several drips. In addition to that, he was observing and had probably noticed Killian's reddened eyes from crying too much and the fact we were both exhausted. He was still very young, but he was a smart little boy. He was getting that something was wrong, and it was my part as his mom to comfort him.

"Yes, Liam, I'm a bit sick." I said, holding him close to me. "But it's not serious, don't worry."

He frowned, looking a bit worried because of my statement, and moved to stand up on the bed. He wrapped his arms around my neck and kissed my cheek as if it could make all of my of troubles disappear. He then looked at me a bit shyly and asked in a little voice :

"You better now?"

I vaguely smiled, tenderized by his sweet gesture. I leaned forward to press a kiss on his forehead and gently answered, rubbing his back :

"I have something that can't be solved by a kiss, sweetheart. But having you near me is already making me feel better."

Liam smiled, seeming happy with my reply, and he settled back between his dad and me. I shared a long look with Killian, wondering how the hell we would be able to explain our son he had a little sister, but she could also die. How was he going to take the news? I was hoping he wouldn't be too sad, I wanted to protect him from this horrible situation more than anything. I stayed quiet for a few seconds, losing myself in Killian's clear blue eyes, but Liam didn't give me the time to ask myself more questions. In a low voice, he started to talk again.

"Mommy? Where is Peanut?"

I pressed my lips together, not really knowing what to answer as I hadn't expected him to ask me this question right away. It was Killian who then stated in a very gentle tone, guessing that I didn't really know what to say to our little boy :

"Peanut is not in Mommy's tummy anymore, little mate. It's born yesterday."

"Really?" Liam shouted, his eyes widened, looking overexcited. "Can I see it?"

"It's what we wanted to talk to you about, baby." I answered in a somewhat broken voice.

I wasn't crying, but I cleared my throat to try and pull myself together. I didn't want to worry my son, and I knew he could sense our sadness. Once again, knowing that I needed time, Killian continued, gently stroking my side with is fingers, his arm still tightly wrapped around me :

'You can see it, Liam, but only from afar. What we wanted to tell you is that Peanut is really sick"

"Why?" Our son asked, his brows together, looking a bit lost by this last statement.

"Because it's born too soon." I explained, running my hand through his dark hair to comfort him. "It should have stayed in my belly for a little bit longer, so it isn't strong enough yet."

"It can't heal even if we hug it? A hug always helps." He said with a sweet innocence that almost made me smile.

"No, sweetheart." I answered in a whisper. "It's going to need a lot of time to heal."

His face dropped to display a saddened expression and Killian kissed the top of his head again to try and make him feel better. I was so worried and sad, but I had to admit that having a part of my family with me in my bed was comforting me a lot. I hugged my son for a little while as he was looking like he was intensely thinking about the information we had just given him. He was seeming deeply focused, and Hook asked after a few seconds of silence :

"Do you have any questions, little mate?"

"Yes" He shyly said after a little hesitation.

"You can ask us anything, Liam." I promised him as my son was looking genuinely saddened by the news of his sister being sick.

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

My eyes met Killian's once again. What was happening to us was painful, horrifying, our little princess was between life and death. But, against all odds, a tiny bit of hope made its way through the horror to reach my heart. Our daughter was born. She was going to survive , she was going to fight for her life. Both her parents were survivors after all. She was going to make it.

Unfortunately, this hope faded away quite quickly as I was remembering my little girl so tiny, surrounded by these huge machines. She wasn't fine at all, and even if I wanted to believe that she was going to survive more than anything because I didn't know what was going to happen if she wasn't, I was aware the chances were big for her to die. Killian seemed to understand my doubts, because he leaned forward to press a tender kiss on my temple. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, enjoying the familiar touch of his lips against my skin, and opened my eyelids back to answer my son :

"It's a girl, Liam. You have a little sister."

"You're a big brother now, sweetie, can you imagine?" Killian added, still in this very gentle voice.

A huge smile suddenly enlightened Liam's face and his beautiful green eyes started to spark in happiness. His reaction tenderized and saddened me at the same time. My son was looking so happy by the baby's birth, but I was scared of his reaction if she wasn't surviving this. To be honest, I was afraid of everyone's responses if the worst was happening. How would Henry react? My parents? Killian? How would I cope with this myself? Would I sink into the sadness, would I want to punish myself for my daughter's death? Because I was already feeling so guilty for what was happening to us. And I was so scared, because I didn't want to hurt my loved ones even more.

To try and chase the dark thoughts away, I took Liam in my arms and my little boy snuggled against my chest. Hook didn't take long to join our embrace and pulled us both close to him, kissing the crown of my head.

"We love you so much, sweetheart." I whispered, stroking my son's back.

We stayed for a long time in that position, hugging and trying to comfort the others. We ended up pulling away from each other, and Killian kept his arm around me to keep me close to him. Finally, after a few seconds of silence, he asked me in a whisper :

"Do you want to go see her? We can ask to hold her today, and that way, Liam will be able to meet his sister, even if it's from far away. What do you think?"

I nodded in agreement, I wanted to go visit our baby since I had awakened, and I was really eager to finally hold her against me. And as Killian had said it, Liam could see his sister, and I could guess my son really wanted to meet the new addition to our family.

"Do you wanna go see Peanut?" I then asked Liam with a small smile.

Our son enthusiastically nodded, and I pulled away from Killian and Liam to move and sit down on the edge of the bed, determined to arrive at the baby's side the faster possible. But I got stopped by Killian, who gently placed his hand on my arm. I turned to look at him, surprised, and he answered seeing my questioning look :

"Wait, I'm going to get you a wheelchair"

"I can walk." I protested in a tone I wanted confident but that was a bit too shaky to be convincing.

"It's not good for you, Swan."

"I don't want Liam to see me like that." I answered in a whisper so our son wouldn't hear me, looking at him with a little sight.

I wanted to seem strong in front of him to not frighten him too much. Despite all of our problems, all that was mattering for now was my kids and Killian. I didn't have the time to worry about myself, I had to make sure my family was okay, and if I had to suffer for them, it was worth it.

"Don't try to do too much, darling." He added, gently stroking my side. "Please, I'm worried about you. I wouldn't stand something happening to you."

I suddenly understood he was sharing my feelings : he wanted to put me and the children before himself. All he wanted was seeing me happy and for our kids to be healthy. So, without trying to protest again, I slowly nodded, and he pressed a gentle kiss on my lips as a quiet thank you for listening to him. I looked at him walking away and leaving the room, Liam still in my arms.

He came back a few minutes later and helped me settling on the chair. I was still very weak because of the last events, and I wouldn't have been able to walk all the way to the incubators, I was realizing it now. I kept Liam on my lap as Hook was pushing the wheelchair through the hospital's corridors. My son was obviously finding the walk very amusing while my heart was pounding faster and faster in my chest. I wanted to take my little girl in my arms more than anything but I was so anxious about Liam's reaction as well. How was he going to react when he would see his sister being so tiny? Was he going to worry, or not understand how bad the situation really was?

I didn't have the time to ask myself more questions. Hook stopped the chair in front of the bay window, and took Liam in his arms to allow him to see his sister more easily. I myself straightened on the chair to watch our baby : electrodes were still glued to her little stomach, monitoring her heartbeats, which were surprisingly fast. She was still under respiratory assistance, but, and I didn't know if it was real or just my mind trying to reassure myself, I had the feeling she was breathing more easily and the machines were only there in case of emergency. A pink blanket was now wrapped around her, as my dad had promised it would when we had come to see her during the night. She was sound asleep, and was looking deeply peaceful.

I turned to Liam to see his reaction. In his father's arms, he was leaning toward the window, staring at his sister, quiet and still. He watched her for a long, long time without saying anything, then finally started to talk to say :

"She's small!"

"Yes, she is." Hook gently answered, kissing our son's forehead.

"Can I go hug her?" Our little boy asked with hope in his voice.

"No, sweetheart." I said, stroking his back to comfort him. "Not today. But soon, I promise."

He seemed disappointed with my reply for a little while, but his expression quickly changed to display pure curiosity when he asked :

"What's her name?"

Surprised, I didn't answer his question right away. It was true that I should have expected this : In Liam's head, babies had probably names as soon as they were born. We had never explained him it was the parents that were choosing how the baby would be called, and I could imagine that, as he was only two, in his mind, it was logical that his sister already had a name.

I shared a look with Killian, a sad and painful glance. We hadn't had the time to think of a name for the baby. When he had offered me to do so during our honey moon, I had answered him we still had time. I was so far from the truth, but I hadn't expected what would happen only a few weeks after this wonderful trip. Now that we were talking about it, I was realizing that naming the baby was scaring me to death : what if something was happening to her? I was feeling like losing her would be even more painful if she had a name. I didn't know why I was feeling like that, but it was terrifying and I didn't know what to do anymore.

It's Killian who ended up answering our son, aware that our little boy was eager to finally hear the answer to his question :

"She doesn't have a name yet." He calmly explained.

"Why?" Liam said, surprised, with a little frown. "Everyone has a name!"

"Yes, baby, you're right, but we didn't have the time to choose one for her." I sadly answered, forcing myself to smile at him. "The most important for now is that Peanut feels better, you know?"

He nodded but still seemed a bit confused. We stayed for a few more seconds in that position, just watching the baby in silence, then Killian suddenly turned his head when he heard steps coming in our backs. I imitated him to discover Whale, and straightened a little bit more on my chair to see the doctor more clearly. Without waiting any longer, Killian started to talk :

"Can we go hold her now?"

"Of course." the doctor answered with a kind smile. "We just have to take some cautions to avoid her being in contact with too many germs, okay?"

"Sure, no problem." Killian eagerly answered before leaning forward to gently say to Liam. "You're going to stay with Grandma and Grandpa for a little while, okay, sweetie? Mommy and I are going to meet Peanut."

"Okay." Liam said in a little voice, looking a bit disappointed to not be able to come with us.

I smiled and got up for a few seconds to kiss my son's forehead, then Killian disappeared to go leave Liam to our parents' watch. As soon as they got out of sight, I sat back down on my chair, already exhausted by this simple movement. I turned to look at Whale and asked in a tensed voice :

"How is she doing? Please be honest, I can handle it."

"I know you can, Emma." He said with an understanding nod. "But to be perfectly honest, for now, I can't give you a clear answer. We need to wait, it's the only thing we can really do. She's stabilized for now, and it's already a good sign given where she' coming from. But she's still very small, and even without her respiratory issues, she at least will have to stay a few weeks in the incubator to reach a normal size."

I didn't say anything, taking the time to digest the information. Sure, these statements weren't that surprising, but now that I had heard those words from the doctor's mouth, everything was seeming so real. My little girl was far from being safe, and the few weeks that were coming were going to be very long.

Hook came back as I was lost in my thoughts. This time, I didn't try to get up the chair, wanting to keep all my strengths to hold my daughter close to me, maybe give her a little bit of my resources to help her. Whale led us to a room next to the one where the baby was settled to make us put on sterile gowns, and prevent the baby from getting even sicker. I knew we normally had to wear masks, but Whale explained us he had decided to spare us from that, as he wanted the baby to be able to recognize our faces and voices more easily. And then, as my limbs were slightly shaking because of my anxiety, they let us into the same room as our little girl.

A nurse was leading us. She pushed my chair to the incubator in which our baby was still sleeping, and gestured to Killian to show him he could sit down on a stool next to me. She then leaned forward to get my daughter out of her bed, what immediately triggered her tears. She was obviously pretty mad to get awakened, and was telling us by letting go of little cries of anger. She wasn't loud at all, probably because her breathing was still a bit weak, but I told myself that if she had the strength to cry like that, maybe she was already a bit better. The nurse placed the baby in my arms, and said in a low voice as if she didn't want to bother us :

"I'm leaving you two to it. I'm right there if you need me."

I barely heard her. My eyes staring at my daughter, I watched her for a few seconds without saying anything. I wasn't managing to describe the dozen of feelings that were crashing inside my chest, but I could tell that I was already loving her so, so much. She was so tiny that her big blue eyes were looking huge in her little face. Killian took her little hand in his, and the baby's fingers squeezed his forefinger. She was still crying. To comfort her, I whispered, rocking her against my chest.

"Shh, princess. Everything's all right. We're here, now. You're safe."

Hearing my voice seemed to calm her down a bit, and she stopped crying. I pulled her a little bit closer, almost scared at the idea of hurting her because she was so small. She was now quiet and was staring at me with her big eyes, the same as her father's, as if she was trying to analyze my face.

The time seemed to stretch. I didn't feel like what I was leaving was real anymore. I was elsewhere, with Killian and my little girl, somewhere where she was fine and healthy. It's Hook who started to talk again as the quiet was filling in the room :

"Can I hold her?"

He had tears in his eyes. Really carefully, as if I was risking to break her at any given moment, I placed her in Killian's arms. He let go of a little gasp when he met her eyes and seemed completely overwhelmed by what he was living.

"Hey, little love." He said in a broken voice. "Your mommy and I, we love you so much. We'll do anything to protect you, I promise."

He was looking at her with pure love in his eyes, exactly as he had done when he had first met Liam. I leaned forward to kiss his cheek, and rested my head on his shoulder to look at our baby more easily. We didn't say anything for a little while, but Killian ended up talking again in a low voice as our daughter had fallen back asleep in her dad's arms :

"Liam is right, maybe we should find her a name."

I didn't say anything, a bit confused by my own feelings. I hadn't told him about my doubts concerning this name, that I was so scared of choosing. Wouldn't it be more painful to lose her if she had a name? Aware that Killian wouldn't judge me and would understand, as always, I admitted :

"I don't know, babe. If something happens to her..."

"Nothing is going to happen to her, Emma." He said with a sudden confidence. "She's going to survive this. She's a fighter, as her mom."

I had a small smile, touched by his words. He leaned forward to press a gentle kiss on my lips, and I realized he was actually right. We had to name her. Even if she wasn't surviving, we couldn't spend the rest of our lives calling her Peanut because we hadn't had the strength to choose a name for her. She needed to have an identity. She was deserving it, it was important.

"Okay." I then answered with a little smile. "Do you have any idea?"

"I think I've found the perfect name."

I couldn't hold my tenderized smile back when I heard his offer and agreed without even having to think about it that long, deciding it was the prefect name for our little princess. We both decided not to talk about our choice to anyone as long as she would be in the hospital. Her name was going to stay a secret between us, and we would protect it like a true treasure. It would only be divulged when she would be safe. Because she would heal. There was no other choice.

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 **Okay guys, so you'll know the name in chapter 39. Hope you like this part and see you Friday!**


	38. Chapter 38

**Thanks a lot to StarsuperS, oncer4life11, SailingShips666, paupaupi, Nightingale53, Emilee Amethyst and Araya for the reviews! You guys have great ideas for the name (some I really, really like!), but I won't tell anything about it to keep the surprise! Hope you'll enjoy this chapter! :)**

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And then, a kind of odd routine settled down in our lives. Hook literally moved in my hospital room to stay by my side, his clothes and belongings piled up with mine in the little wardrobe standing in a corner of the room, and, every night, we were falling asleep tied into a tight embrace, both refusing to leave each other again. Liam was sleeping at my parents', to avoid making him stay longer than necessary in this bleak place that wasn't appropriate for a child at all, but he was spending the day with us. He still couldn't go into the incubators room, but he was watching the baby for hours, still, his eyes widened, completely fascinated. Henry and Neal were also coming to join us quite often and visit our baby girl. Henry was the only one who'd been able to come with us once and take his little sister in his arms, and he had gotten out of the room completely devastated, impressed by how tiny she was, scared to death something was going to happen to her. Whenever possible, Killian and I were going to hold her, give her a bit of comfort, spend a little time with her to convince ourselves she was going to make it and try to pass her a bit of our strength. She was in a steady state : Her health wasn't worsening, but she wasn't getting better either. I was feeling like we were living in slow motion, waiting for something that was never going to happen, and the time was stretching around us. Four days after finding a name for our daughter, I was finally able to walk by myself again, even if I was still quite weak and had to take plenty of breaks to avoid fainting in the middle of the corridors. During all this time, I hadn't cried once.

I still couldn't understand this absence of tears. Killian was sobbing so often, completely destabilized by the situation and so scared at the idea we could lose our baby. During those moments, I was always taking him against me and was holding him the tighter I could, whispering comforting words to his ear to try and help him. He was calming down after a couple of minutes, and was ending up apologizing for these outbursts. And I was always answering that he didn't have anything to be sorry for. As for me, everything in me was ravaged by a huge fear and an even bigger guilt that was taking all my strengths. I was feeling like what was happening to my girl was my entire fault, and I was blaming myself for everything that was going on in our lives. I was hating myself so much for that I sometimes wanted to bang my head against a wall to punish myself for what I had done to my daughter.

The day I was finally able to walk without risking anything, Killian and I went to the intensive baby care unit, hand in hand, walking very slowly so I wouldn't do too much all at once. We stayed for a very long time there, in silence, simply watching our little girl sleeping and breathing peacefully while she was still under respiratory assistance. Hook was standing behind me, both his arms wrapped around my waist, and I was leaning against his chest, my head resting against his shoulder. My thoughts had converged toward this terrible guilt again, and I suddenly felt the need to talk to Killian about it. I hadn't told him anything about it yet, but he would understand, he always did. I then started to talk in a very husky voice, and simply said :

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry about what?" Hook said in a surprised tone that made me frown.

I didn't get why he was asking me this question and pressed my lips together, confused. I hadn't thought about the possibility he wouldn't understand what I was trying to say to him, it was seeming so clear in my mind. I then took a few seconds before answering, a bit puzzled, and ended up saying :

"Well, I'm sorry about all of this. I've never apologized, and I wanted to do so. You deserve it. It's my fault if we're here after all, and I just wanted to make you understand how sorry I am."

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" He asked, sounding completely lost. "What is your fault?"

"Everything!" I got impatient, gesturing toward our sleeping daughter and thinking I was being crystal clear. "It's my fault, and I know it. If I'd managed to keep calm when Zelena took us hostage, we wouldn't have been here today. The baby would have been born on time, and she would have been happy and healthy. Hell, if I hadn't sped up Zelena's pregnancy in the first place, she would never have been after us. It's all because of me, I'm the only one to blame."

"Swan!" He cried out, sounding outraged.

I shook my head in confusion hearing the unusual tone he'd just used to talk to me, but didn't have the time to ask him what was making him so offended. He had pulled away from me and had gently forced me to turn and face him. I was now looking at him in the eyes as he'd left his hand and his hook placed on my shoulders. He was staring at me, looking deeply hurt, and I didn't understand his saddened expression right away. I opened my mouth to question him, but he started to talk before I could say anything :

"Emma, it's not your fault!"

"Of course it is!" I countered, a bit puzzled as I hadn't expected him to react that way. I'd really thought he would agree with me on this. "I'm the only one to blame, so I just wanted to apologize, because I hate myself for what I've done. You don't have to try and make me feel better, you know. I know I did everything wrong."

"Em'" He said again, looking at me as if I had just said the stupidest thing ever. "You have nothing to be sorry for." He added in a gentler voice, as his hand was running down my arm to grab my fingers in a tender gesture. "The only one to blame here is Zelena, not you. She's the reason why the baby is born too soon. It's not your fault, sweetheart."

And without adding anything, he wrapped his arms around me to bury his face into the crook of my neck, looking deeply hurt by my words. I didn't move, completely triggered by his statement. I needed a few seconds to realize he wasn't completely wrong. He was even absolutely, utterly right. It was all because of the witch. I didn't have anything to do with what was happening. I hadn't asked for anything, she was the one who'd come into our lives to make a mess out of it. It was because of her that my baby girl was between life and death right now. It was her, since the beginning, and, as if I was finally seeing clearly, I understood I had to make her regret what she'd done.

"I'm so sorry you've felt that way." Killian whispered, gently stroking my spine in a back and forth that didn't manage to calm me down.

"You're right." I then said in a voice lacking from all emotion, before pulling away from him to look at him in the eyes.

The corridor was spinning around me, and my limbs started to slightly shake without me being able to do anything to stop them. Everything that I was feeling for days, this fear, this sadness, this huge guilt, everything had suddenly transformed into pure rage. It was her fault, and she was going to regret it. I had to take revenge, for my baby girl. It was my part as her mom to do so. The witch was going to pay for her acts.

I was shaking more and more violently, my teeth unpleasantly clashing inside my mouth. Hook noticed my change of behavior, because he looked at me with a frown, his head titled on its side in worry, and asked :

"Swan, you all right?"

I didn't answer anything. The anger was crushing my guts and I was feeling like throwing up. I was a volcano about to start erupting. Nothing could stop me now. I had to avenge my daughter, I wanted to go and glue my fist into the witch's jaw to hurt her, to make her feel the pain she had afflicted to our family.

So that's exactly what I did.

I didn't even think about it, everything was darkened by this huge rage that was flowing through my veins, the world had lost its colors to display a range of black and white that was making me dizzy. I violently freed myself from Killian's embrace and started to run. I didn't pay attention to his confused scream as he was calling me back, nor to my parents, who looked at me with pure confusion as I was running past them, while they were settled on a bench of the waiting room with my sons. Everything that was mattering for now was to hurt Zelena. Making her suffer, to get rid of all this pain that was devouring me from the inside. She was deserving it, after all.

I remembered hearing she was at the station, locked in a cell and deprived from her magic. Regina was with her, for what I'd understood, but I didn't even think about the fact my friend could try and stop me from achieving my mission. I then rushed toward where I was usually working, I ran faster than I'd probably ever done in my entire life, ignoring the pain that was radiating in my still fragile limbs every time my feet were pounding against the ground, and the sting of the freezing air entering my burning lungs. I wanted to hurt her, and I didn't pay attention to the cries my Dad and Killian were throwing in my back, as they'd launched behind me and were trying to reach me, not understanding what was happening to me. I accelerated my race again. They couldn't catch me before I'd done what I wanted. They would try to stop me, and I couldn't let that happen. I needed to hurt the witch, or I was feeling like my anger would kill me.

I felt a drop of sweat running down my temple. I was getting close, and despite my body that was about to give up on me, my head that was spinning so hard it was a miracle I was still on my feet and the pain that was pounding inside my skull, I couldn't stop now. She had to pay. She had to. And maybe, finally, I would get rid of this pain that was raging inside of me.

I ended up arriving at the station, after what seemed like an eternity to me. I ran past Regina at a breakneck speed, as my friend was getting out of the building, heading for her car. I guessed in my mind blurred by the rage and the exhaustion that she was certainly about to go to the hospital to see us, and she then opened wide eyes when she saw me in the parking lot.

"Swan? What are you...?"

"Regina, stop her!" My dad screamed from behind my back, what made me think that if he surely didn't know what I had in mind, he was guessing that I was about to do something really bad.

Too late. My friend didn't react fast enough, and I entered the station. I kept on running and only stopped when I arrived into the room where I was usually doing my work as a sheriff. Nothing had really changed since the last time I'd come here, as if my world hadn't fallen apart in the meantime, as if everything was fine and this story had only been a horrible nightmare. The only alteration was the witch. Zelena was there, locked in one of the cell, sitting on her bunk. She was wrapped in a blanket and looked up at me with wide eyes when she heard me coming in. She opened her mouth to ask me something, but I didn't give her the time to say anything.

In a rage, I headed for the cell and opened it up with a flick of my wrist, using my magic. The witch got up, looking terrified by the aura of rage I was releasing but, oddly enough, this sight didn't give me the comfort I was looking fort. Telling myself that it was surely because I needed to go further in my plan, I approached her with a few threatening steps and, looking deep into her eyes to read the horror shinning in it, I punched her in the face.

I had put all the strength I still had in me in the strike, using my anger and my sadness to draw into my last resources. The pain radiated to my elbow, but I decided to ignore it, focusing on the witch in front of me. Completely stunned, she lost her balance and collapsed on the wall behind her back. Without waiting for her to react, I ran toward her and sank my nails deep into the skin of her neck, impeding her trachea. She let go of a muffled cry of pain, and I heard in my back :

"Emma, no!"

Regina was behind me, but didn't dare to intervene, perhaps because she was scared of hurting me in the process if she was using her powers. I heard the front door of the station slamming in the distance, and understood that my dad and Killian had just entered the building as well. Aware that I didn't have a lot of time left as they would probably try to stop me, I strengthened my grip on the witch's throat. I didn't know what I was looking for, I didn't even know if I wanted to kill her, it wasn't my plan at first. But she had hurt my daughter, so she had to suffer as well. It was only fair.

Zelena suddenly kicked, using her last bit of strength, and we both fell down on the ground. I didn't let go of her, and gathered my energy to sit on her legs and force her to stay still as I was still strangling her. Her eyes were completely widened, and her lips were taking an odd blue color as panicked tremblings were taking control over her limbs.

"It's your fault!" I barked, in such a rage I didn't even realize she was about to pass out under my grip. "It's all because of you, you fucking witch!"

I didn't have the time to keep on yelling and felt strong arms grabbing me from behind as someone was firmly lifting me up so I was letting go of Zelena. I struggled the best I could, trying to escape and resume what I had started. I couldn't stop now, she hadn't suffered enough yet. I had to avenge my daughter, the witch was deserving to get hurt after what she'd done.

"Emma, that's enough!" My dad said as he was trying to control me and get me away from Zelena, who was slowly catching her breath, still laying on the floor of her cell.

His sentence acted as a trigger on me, for a reason I couldn't understand. I suddenly wasn't mad at all anymore. All these tears I should have shed since the beginning of this terrible story appeared in my eyes all at once, and I choked on a violent sob that was quickly forming inside my throat. My baby girl was maybe going to die, all of this because of this damn witch, all of this because it seemed like I could never be happy for real.

I had stopped moving, entirely devoured by this huge sadness. Thinking I had finally calmed down, my dad let me go to put me back on the floor, but my legs gave up on me. I had made too many efforts given my still fragile state, and I was feeling like my entire body was liquefying. My knees hit the ground with an unpleasant noise. On the floor, without paying attention to the pain in my legs, I took my head in my hands and a husky sob shook my shoulders as all my emotions were getting out of control.

Almost instantly, I felt arms strongly wrapping around me and pulling me into a tight embrace. I recognized Killian's smell of sea and leather before even seeing him. He gently ran his hand up and down my spine without trying to say anything. He was getting that these tears he was shedding for days were suddenly appearing for me, as if I'd just realized how bad the situation really was. My sobs were so strong I was almost choking on them. I didn't have any strength left in my body, and Hook's arms were the only things stopping me from falling over completely.

I was aching, horribly, physically. My chest was feeling so twisted I couldn't breathe anymore. Hook kissed my temple, trying to comfort me so I wouldn't drown in my own tears. All these hours I had spent trying to make him feel better, he was giving them back right now. He was rocking me against his chest, and I could hear his heart racing through his shirt. After a very long time, probably because I didn't have any tears left to cry, I ended up settling down, grabbing the back of his jacket as if he was a lifesaver in the middle of a storm, the only thing still holding me and preventing me from crumbling completely.

"It's okay." He whispered to my ear when I had stopped sobbing, as a little whimper of distress was escaping my parted lips. "Everything is going to be just fine. I'm right here with you. I love you, we'll get through this."

After a few more minutes spent at hugging me so tight, he pulled away from me and gently stroked my face to wipe off my tears. I was feeling empty, completely empty. I wasn't feeling anything anymore. I had cried too much, if only it was possible. No more rage, no more wish to get my revenge, only this huge black hole opening inside my chest. Killian approached his face from mine and pressed a tender kiss on my forehead, then on my cheek, to end up his path by placing a little and very gentle peck on my lips. He interlaced his fingers with mine and said in a very soft voice :

"Come on, love. We're going home."

By _home_ , he was obviously meaning the hospital. We were living there, now. And we were going to continue our lives right there until our baby girl was completely healed.

I tried to get back up, but my legs couldn't support my weight anymore, and Killian caught me right before I hit the floor. I had used all my strengths to run to the station, and my anger had seemed to feed from my energy to leave me powerless now that it was gone. Killian didn't say anything and took me into his arms, lifting me up from the ground with an arm on my back and the other under my legs. I didn't even look back to see how Zelena was doing and buried my face into Killian's neck, hoping to escape from this lack of emotion that was absolutely horrifying. Hook carried me to one of the sheriff car, and my dad settled behind the wheel to drive us both back to the hospital. I laid down on the backseat, my head on Killian's lap as he was gently running his hand through my hair, whispering to me that everything was going to be just fine.

They didn't say one thing about what had just happened, and no one talked about these events ever again.

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And the time passed. Oddly enough, I felt like freed after my outburst, after all this anger and these tears. I was now able to cry, and it was making me feel so much better to let go of my emotions. Hook wasn't the only one sobbing at night anymore, and we were comforting each other, always wrapped into a tight embrace that was warming our broken hearts up a little bit.

They told me I was able to leave the hospital ten days after my daughter's birth, but I wouldn't go anywhere. I wanted to stay close to my baby girl. She needed us. I wasn't going to give up on her. Seeing that we didn't want to go, Whale booked us a room in an empty corridor of the hospital. My mom even brought some of Liam's toys so he could play a little bit and not stay the entire day in this heavy atmosphere of terror.

I was barely sleeping and was losing weight so fast it was almost scary. All my energy was used to think about my daughter, who was still in an incubator. They'd ended up taking the respirator away from her, and if it was a good sign, she was still in danger, I knew it. Hook was in the same state of fear, and if my parents hadn't brought us meals every day, we would probably have let ourselves starve to death. Most of the time, Henry and Liam were staying with us. Henry was trying to comfort us while Liam was staying snuggled against one of us, searching for comfort as he was so saddened by the situation as well. I was feeling like our lives had stopped since the baby's birth. And I was hoping they would finally get normal again soon, because I was going crazy.

My favorite moments were without a doubt the evenings. They were the only thing able to make me smile a little bit. Liam had finally been allowed to approach his little sister when she had been able to breathe by herself, and he had been so moved by this meeting. Since then, every night, we were meeting inside the little room where the incubators were, my sons, Killian and I. One of us was taking the baby and the other was holding Liam, while Henry was settling in front of us on a stool. There, in an almost formal tone, he was telling us the tale of one of the stories in his _Once Upon a Time_ book until the two kids had fallen asleep. We wouldn't have missed these moments for anything in the world. It was a little tradition that was giving us the impression we were a normal family, and it was making me feel so much better.

Our little family had been so touched by the last events. We had been broken, we had fallen so deep, and we now needed to get back up. The time had stopped, and it would only resume its course again when the baby would be out of the hospital.

So we were all impatiently waiting for our lives to finally continue their paths, because it would also mean the baby was safe.

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 **See you monday to know the baby's name! :)**


	39. Chapter 39

**Thanks a lot to Emilee Amethyst, Nightingale53, oncer4life11, Araya and Guest for the review! Here's to the last regular chapter of this fiction! I'll post the epilogue on Thursday instead of on Friday, because I'm going away for the entire week-end. I hope you'll like this chapter, and the name of the baby that's finally revealed!**

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"Drink this. It will make you feel better."

I looked up to accept the mug of hot cocoa with cinnamon my mom was handing me, smiling weakly at her in a quiet thank you as Killian was doing the same thing. We were both sitting on the bench that had been placed right in front of the incubators room so we could sit down while keeping an eye on our daughter. Henry was standing next to my mother, and Liam was snuggled against my chest, half asleep.

"Thanks." I whispered in order not to wake my son up. "Where's dad?"

She vaguely shrugged, and I titled my head on its side, intrigued by her behavior. She sat down next to me, and I was about to ask her more information about David's absence, but she started to talk before I could say anything, as if she was trying to change the subject. She looked at the baby, who was peacefully sleeping in her little bed, and asked :

"How is she doing?"

"Still the same." I sighted, looking down at my hot cocoa. "Nothing's changed."

She'd been born three weeks ago, but nothing was really moving. We were what seemed like stuck in this situation, waiting for something to happen, while hoping it would be good news. She was at least breathing by herself now, and was looking more awake and reactive to what was happening around her. She was even beginning to try and grab our fingers and was responding to our voices by little amused cries that were always making us stare at her in awe. She'd grown a lot, even if she was still very tiny, but Whale didn't seem decided to allow us to take her back home. I was exhausted, I had to admit it. I could barely sleep at night, I was always awakened by awful nightmares in which I was losing everyone I loved, and I didn't know how much longer I would be able to go on like this. But I was trying to stay strong, for my kids, for my parents who were also horribly worried. I was only allowing myself to let my emotions out at night, and I was sobbing in Killian's arms as he was doing the same thing. We were understanding each other, we were sharing the same pain, the same fear. We were there for the other, and he was helping me to keep on going in this endless hell that was now our lives.

"It's gonna be okay." My mom gently answered me, sensing my distress. "She's getting stronger every day. You'll be able to take her home really soon, I know it."

"I really hope you're right." Killian said, placing his hand on the small of my back to gently stroke my skin through my sweater, feeling my pain.

I turned to look at him with a very small smile, and lost myself in his gaze for a little while. Our baby had his huge clear blue eyes, it was a fact, and sinking deep into Killian's was giving me the hope she was going to get better and we would have the chance to watch her grow up.

A gentle silence filled in the corridor as Killian was still caressing my back. The quiet got broken by Liam, who ended up waking up. He straightened on my lap, rubbing his eyes and yawning. He looked all around him, seeming a bit confused, and I pressed a kiss on his messy hair, tenderized by his cuteness.

"Can we go see Peanut, now?" He asked in a sleepy tone.

"Later, sweetheart." I answered, pulling him a little bit closer to me. "She's sleeping for now, she needs to rest, you know? We'll go for bedtime, I promise."

"Okay." He said, sounding vaguely disappointed.

"You'll be able to choose the story you wanna hear." Henry added with a kind smile to comfort his little brother.

"Really?" Liam cried out in excitement, all of his good mood back. "Can you tell me when Mommy and Daddy were at the ball?"

I glanced at Killian and noticed that a little smile had spread on the corner of his lips. Since we'd decided to share these evenings all together, during which we were telling the stories of the Enchanted Forest, Liam had found a sudden passion for this tale in which Hook and I were going back in the past. I reached to grab Killian's hook and squeezed the cold metal in my palm, as he was leaning forward to press a little kiss against my temple. I briefly closed my eyes, enjoying this quiet moment that was making me feel so much better.

"Again?" Henry asked with a teasing smile.

"Yeah!" Liam said back with enthusiasm. "I like this story!"

"You know, Mommy was looking very pretty in her red dress." Killian commented, breathing in my scent against my hair before moving again to kiss me, on the cheek this time. "She was gorgeous, to be completely honest. She was looking like the most beautiful princess to ever live, and she took my breath away."

"Well, Daddy wasn't looking that bad himself." I added, recalling these important memories from our past and looking at Killian with a slight smile. "He was looking like a true prince. He's a natural at this."

Liam continued to babble about this story he was loving so much, and I looked back at Henry to mouth a quiet _thank you_ in his direction. I was so proud of my son. Despite his own pain, he was doing everything he could to make his brother smile and to make us feel a little bit better. He smiled at me as an answer, and I gestured for him to get closer before wrapping my free arm around him :

"I love you, kid." I whispered with honesty.

He pulled away from me after a few seconds and opened his mouth to answer something, but steps coming in our direction drew our attention. I bent a little bit to see who was approaching us, and I saw my dad and Regina walking quite fast in the corridor to come and join us. Henry gestured for me to give him Liam as I was putting my mug on the floor in front of me, ready to greet our guests. I didn't notice the figure that was following my family right away, as it was looking down and seemed to be wanting to become invisible. But when I finally recognized who was walking toward me, I jumped out of my seat, my fists clenched so hard my nails were sinking into the skin of my palms.

"What the hell is she doing here?!" I barked, throwing a furious stare at Zelena.

Beside me, no one was saying anything, completely bewildered as well, but my mom slowly got up, what made me guess she was aware the witch was supposed to come but she hadn't had the time to warn us about it. Hook got on his feet as well and placed a shaky hand on my back, and I understood that if he was as mad as I was, he just wanted to reassure me and show me his support. I suddenly remembered the kids were still there with us in the corridor, and as I didn't want them to see me in such a rage, I forced myself to take some deep breaths and calm down, helped by the touch of Killian's hand against my skin.

"Emma, take it easy." My dad gently started. "She's coming in peace."

"She wants to talk a little bit with you." Regina added, forcing her sister to take a step forward with a little push on her back.

Zelena was still looking down at her feet, as if she was deeply ashamed. My eyes met the black bracelet that was depriving her of her magic, placed around her wrist, and it reassured me a little bit : she couldn't hurt us. But I was feeling on the edge of entering in a rage, I was feeling it burning in my guts as boiling lava. How dared she come here after everything she'd done? How dared she approach my family? Was she really hoping I would listen to her and forgive her just like that, after everything we'd been through because of her?

"Mom, can you bring Liam to our room, please?" I asked in a tensed voice, wishing to take my son away from this tension that was crackling in the atmosphere and was making the air so thick it was getting hard to breathe. "Everything's fine, sweetheart." I added to my son with a comforting smile, wanting to reassure him as he was staring at me with worry in his eyes.

My mom slowly nodded and took Liam against her before disappearing. I turned back to Zelena, my jaw clenched in anger, once I was sure my little boy couldn't hear us anymore. Henry came to stand by our sides, to show us his support in this confrontation. He was also looking so mad, and he grabbed my fingers with a shaky hand. A heavy silence settled for a few seconds, and it's Regina who started to talk first :

"Swan, I know you're mad and you're right to be, but she really wants to talk to you. Can you give her a chance?"

After a little hesitation, I nodded despite my feelings, knowing deep down it was the best thing to do for my family. I felt Hook's hand searching for mine and grabbed his fingers with my free hand in a try to calm myself down. I took some deep breaths to ease the little voice at the back of my head yelling for me to punch Zelena in the face once again. Instead, I closed my eyes for a brief second before saying in a muffled voice :

"Go."

She looked up at me and we shared a quiet glance. She was looking genuinely sad, and I wondered for a minute if she was pretending in order to get what she wanted or if she was being sincere. But when she started to talk again, her voice was shaking and I understood she was thinking every word that was coming out of her mouth, what made me feel just a little bit better :

"I wanted to apologize." She started in a low voice. "I spent most of my life alone, without anyone to care about me, and when Robyn was born, I felt like I had finally found someone to love me no matter what. And then she was taken away from me. But I should never have tried to hurt you, Emma, especially now that you were pregnant. You did things you shouldn't have by speeding up my pregnancy, but you've been careful my daughter was safe at the end of the day, and we've all made mistakes here. You were besides under the Dark One's curse at the time. I'm really feeling guilty for what happened, because I now understand I've made a huge mistake. That's why I let you get to the hospital just before you gave birth, I got that I wouldn't get my daughter back by acting like that. I just wanted to say sorry, but you don't have to accept my apologies. I would absolutely understand if you didn't want to. I deserve it."

A surprised silence followed her statement. I certainly hadn't expected to hear that, and I was suddenly realizing that I had myself never apologized for speeding up her pregnancy. My anger was still there, of course it was, but I was feeling sorry for the witch : deep down, all she wanted was to know her daughter and be loved. And even if I was still deeply mad at her, I opened my mouth to myself tell her how sorry I was, but I got interrupted by Killian and turned to look at him :

"You can be sorry." I stated in a surprisingly calm tone.

He let go of my hand to approach Zelena and take her by the arm, almost gently. Still without any violence in his movements, he forced her to turn and look at the bay window in front of her. He showed her the baby, still looking so tiny in her incubator. He looked at our daughter for a few seconds, then started to talk again, still in a tone lacking from any brutality.

"You see my daughter there, Zelena? She's three weeks old. And at three weeks, she's even smaller than a two-hour-old baby. So yeah, you can be sorry and blame yourself. Because of you, she's suffering. And she doesn't deserve this."

He let go of her arm. He was looking so sad it broke my heart in half. Zelena was staring at him with wide eyes, and I saw tears appearing in Killian's gaze. Very gently, I approached him and wrapped both my arms around his chest to comfort him. He gently caressed my back as I was kissing his chin, waiting for his heart, that I could hear through his t-shirt, to stop racing. When I was sure he was feeling a bit better, I started to talk again :

"Killian is right. You have all the reasons to blame yourself, because what you did was wrong beyond words. But I have to apologize as well. I'm sorry I've sped up your pregnancy in the first place. I've never apologized, and I want to do it now. But it doesn't mean that I'm not mad at you anymore. You almost broke our family, and the baby isn't even safe yet. It's all your fault, and I don't know if I'll be able to forgive you some day."

I'd put all my honesty in this statement, without sounding violent at all. I had to stay calm, for my family, but I was also refusing to lie to the witch and tell her everything was okay. Zelena pressed her lips together as if she was holding back her tears, and slowly nodded :

"I get it." She whispered, looking down at the floor.

The silence reigned for a few seconds again. Seeing that Killian, who, if he'd calmed down, still had unshed tears shinning deep inside his eyes, I pulled him a little bit closer to me. He kissed the top of my head and we stayed for a long while just watching the baby sleep without saying anything. Henry ended up joining us, and I wrapped my arm around his shoulder to include him in our embrace. My thoughts diverged toward the most important people in my life. I first thought about the baby, then my sons, Killian, my entire family, who had been so disrupted by the last events. I was wondering if we would ever be able to get over this entirely. I then told myself Zelena'd had to be really brave to come here after what I'd done to her during my tantrum two weeks earlier. Suddenly, I realized she'd never explained us her entire plan, and I frowned, intrigued. We had more or less guessed what she'd wanted to accomplish by acting like that, but we still had a lot of unanswered questions in mind. How was she knowing the three wizards and how had she brought them to our world? Why them? Since when was she in Storybrooke? How had she come back from Oz? Deciding that, given her presence, it was now or never to get some answers, I turned to her again and asked in a low voice :

"We never knew how you got here in the first place, Zelena. We never really understood your plan. I'd like for you to tell us everything, now. I think we deserve to know."

She sighted, as if she was feeling deeply ashamed of what she'd done, and her change suddenly hit me all at once. She was looking genuinely sorry. She wasn't the same person anymore. Maybe she would actually change, for good. After all, it was never too late to find the right path. She leaned against the closest wall and whispered :

"Very well."

"You should sit down." Regina recommended. "It's a very long story."

I obeyed, followed by Killian and Henry. I sat down between the both of them, my right hand squeezed between my son's fingers, my left one gently stroking Killian's palm. I was feeling like they were helping me to calm my anger down, and I needed it. Even if I was trying to seem calm, I was still really mad at the witch and what she'd done was unforgivable. Even the simple fact of looking at her was making my stomach twist while a lump was forming in my throat, and I had to force myself in order not to start yelling at her. But she had apologized, and I really wanted to know the entire story. I then looked up at her, showing her I was ready to listen :

"It all started in Oz." Zelena began. "I was trying to find my way back to Storybrooke and get my daughter back. I, of course, first tried to steal Dorothy's slippers, but I've never managed to get what I wanted. She was always foiling my traps, no matter how good they were. I never gave up, telling myself it was my only chance to come back here, but after two years, she ended up leaving the realm. Thanks to the slippers, she could change world easily, what wasn't my case. I was mad, really mad, and I promised myself that when she would come back, I would kill her for good. But meanwhile, I needed to find another way to open a portal. After hours of research, I ended up discovering a potion that could make me come here, it was just what I needed. No one had managed to get it to work yet, because one of the ingredients was rare beyond words, and I had to do something horrible to get it. What I needed was the tears of a broken heart, but not any broken heart. One who had just lost its true love to death. True love is already very hard to find, as you know it, it's the rarest magic of all. But in addition to that, the tears had to come from someone I knew and who trusted me. I managed to get close to a couple of farmers, pretending to be a beggar, and I stayed with them for several months to gain their trust. I ended up killing the young woman while the couple had just gotten engaged. They were loving each other more than anything. I'm not proud of what I did, but I thought back then that the most important was to get my daughter back, no matter how. I wasn't understanding that by doing such a thing, I wasn't acting like a mother should. The rest of the ingredients wasn't hard to find, and after a few more months, I ended up managing to open a portal to Storybrooke. I arrived here in the middle of March, deep down in the forest so you wouldn't notice me. I hid there, waiting for Robyn to be left alone to strike. I already had a plan back then, I wanted to steal the apprentice's wand which I knew was at Regina's, then abduct Robyn to bring her back with me to Oz. I've waited for the right moment, I needed the house empty to manage to get what I wanted. I've had to wait for several days, because someone was always there, as if you were trying to prevent a potential danger. But, finally, the day I was waiting for arrived around the middle of March. There was a party at Granny's, and, therefore, the house and a good part of the town was empty...

"... Liam's birthday party." I whispered, shaking my head in disbelief.

It was a tradition to throw a little party to celebrate birthdays, in this family. We had then organized an evening for Liam around the half of March, as Zelena had said it, right before all this story started. I remembered spending a really great night back then : my son was looking so happy, he'd been spoiled with gifts and our friends were finding him absolutely adorable. I wasn't tortured by those sicknesses yet, given the fact I was barely pregnant at the time, and I remembered laughing a lot, snuggled between Killian's arms, as always so in love it was almost hard to believe. We had spent a really good time, little did I know everything had started right there.

"I've reacted the same way." Regina intervened, seeing my surprised look. "Go on, Zelena."

"I broke into the house." The witch obeyed. "It was protected like Regina's castle had been in the Enchanted Forest : blood magic. Not knowing I was back, Regina was protecting her house that way, convinced no one could actually enter without her permission. The apprentice's wand hasn't been hard to find : there wasn't any problems in the town at the time, and it wasn't particularly well hidden. But, even if I'd managed to get the precious wand I wanted, I was realizing my plan wasn't prefect : Robyn was always watched by an adult. I couldn't break into the house during the night, it was too risky, and I didn't want you to know I was there because my biggest advantage was being invisible to your eyes at the time. So I walked across the house, searching for an idea to get my daughter back, anything that could help me. It's there that I fell face to face with the Harry Potter novels, in Henry's shelf. I had never heard about these characters before, and that intrigued me a lot. I leafed through the books for a long time, trying to learn more about it, but you ended up coming home. I've been careful to put everything back into place so you wouldn't guess someone had come, and I went back into the forest. When I arrived, I thought about a new plan. Without really knowing why, these characters I had only learned about were sticking with me. I didn't even know if they were real, but I needed to make sure of it. With the apprentice's wand, I managed to open a portal to their world. Suddenly, an idea came to my mind : if I was sending them to Storybrooke with the wand, you would face a new crisis and try to send them back to their realm the quicker possible. I would then be free to abduct Robyn, as you would be too busy at work. But I hadn't thought about the fact it wasn't because there was a crisis the kids were left behind, and I couldn't risk telling you I was there. For my plan to really work, I needed you to not think about the fact I was the one who had kidnapped Robyn, so you wouldn't come to search for me at Oz. I waited for a very, very long time, but I ended up getting impatient. So I risked it all a night where the kids were alone in their rooms. But I failed, and you were now knowing about my plan. I was so, so mad. But a few weeks after that, I randomly learned that Emma was pregnant and... You know about the rest. I wanted to get my baby girl back, and if it meant I could retaliate on you at the same time, Emma, it was killing two birds with one stone. I was so angry at you, not only because you'd sped up my pregnancy, but also because I was blaming you for being separated from my daughter. Of course, Regina was the one who'd decided to send me back to Oz for Robyn's own safety, and I was so mad at her as well, but I was thinking that if you had left me alone in the first place, no one would have taken my baby away. I was wrong, of course, I know it now. Even if I had lived my entire pregnancy, Robyn would have grown up far from me. But I needed someone to blame, and I chose you. I'm sorry."

I nodded to show her I'd heard her, but didn't answer anything. I was still holding Killian and Henry's hands in mine. I saw that they were also deeply thinking about what the witch had just said. It was her plan then, everything was making so much sense now. She hadn't managed to get what she wanted, but she'd done a lot of damage on her way. Lost in my thoughts, I barely saw Whale entering the incubators room to go check on the baby, as he was doing every day since her birth.

After a long while spent in quiet, Regina ended up starting to talk again in a very gentle voice. I looked up at her, feeling that she was about to tell us something quite important.

"We've negotiated a lot, these past few weeks, and we finally decided on an agreement, Zelena and I. But I would like to ask you your opinion before deciding anything once and for all. You're the ones who've suffered the most after all, so I think it's only fair you're the ones to settle the situation."

"What is it?" Killian questioned, looking as intrigued as I was.

"We made a deal." Regina explained with a great calm. "If Zelena continues to behave - and she's on the right path, because apologizing to you was her idea – and provided that she keeps the bracelet forbidding her to use her magic the entire time, we could maybe arrange schedules so she can meet Robyn. It's exactly what we'd decided when the baby was born, but it didn't work as Zelena wanted her daughter all for herself. Now it's different, and she's ready to try. Of course, someone would always be there to watch Robyn while she talks with her mother. But I wanted to ask you what you were thinking about this. If you think it's a bad idea, be sincere. I don't want Robyn to suffer in addition to everything she's already lived."

A bit unsettled by this question, I turned back to Killian to quietly ask him his opinion about all of this. I didn't know what to think anymore : it was true that Zelena seemed calmed down, but what if it was all just a trap to get her daughter back for good? But at the same time, she couldn't do anything against us without her magic. But as Regina had said it, I didn't want the kid to suffer because of this decision. It was a big responsibility they were putting on our shoulders, and I was scared to choose wrong.

Killian was not looking convinced at all. I was clearly reading great worry in his eyes. I tried to communicate with him without saying a word, and he seemed to understand my inside thoughts. After a minute of a quiet conversation, he ended up slowly nodding, telling me he was agreeing with Regina's offer. I then turned back to the witch who, looking down at the ground, was waiting for our decision with dread as if she was sure she would lose against us. She was surely thinking that, as I was mad at her, I was going to want to hurt her and deprive her of her daughter. But I wasn't stupid, I knew this situation didn't have anything to do with me. The truth was our family would be a lot more peaceful if Regina and Zelena stopped fighting each other. And allowing her to see Robyn was a big step toward reconciliation. I couldn't deny this because of my own feelings.

"It's your daughter." I ended up saying in a low, deep voice. "I know you love her. You won't ever hurt her, right?"

"Never." She promised, shaking her head.

"Robyn needs to know her biological mother. And it could only do you good to see your daughter, it could teach you some responsibilities. I agree with that, Regina." I said, looking right into my friend's eyes.

A huge smile suddenly enlightened the witch's face, which had been closed off the entire time since she'd gotten here. I then realized I'd taken the right decision. I hooked my dad's gaze, who was staring at me with pure pride. I had managed to overcome my own anger to give the witch a chance, and I knew it was what he was expecting from me. It was what a hero would have done. I weakly smiled at him, and turned my head toward the bay window to look at my baby.

My eyes met Whale's as he was approaching us with quick steps. I shared an intrigued gaze with Killian : the doctor's face wasn't displaying his usual expression. He wasn't looking particularly worried, but I however leaned toward the bay window to make sure the baby was all right. She'd woken up and was moving in her incubator, looking peaceful, awake, and totally normal. It's only when I turned back to Whale that I realized he was looking genuinely happy, what was highly unusual lately.

"Can I talk to you two in private?" He asked us with a cheerful smile.

I squeezed Killian's fingers between mine, feeling my heartbeats racing inside my chest. The doctor was looking so happy, but I was scared to rejoice too soon. I didn't want to get hurt, not again. Glancing at Hook as we were following our friend hand in hand to have a bit of privacy, I realized he was looking as febrile as I was. Once we were out of sight, Whale ended up stopping and his smile widened a little bit more. In a joyful tone, he announced :

"I have good news, guys."

I felt Killian getting even closer to me, as if he was seeking comfort. I didn't answer anything, holding my breath, waiting for what was about to happen. _Good news_. Concerning the baby. I was hoping to hear these words for three long weeks, and now that it was happening, I was feeling about to start crying. I nodded to encourage the doctor to continue, and he obeyed with a chuckle :

"It's been a few days since the baby is perfectly fine. She's still very tiny, of course, but I've checked on her several times. She's breathing very well by herself, and her reflexes are now completely developed."

I was waiting for the end of his sentence with so much impatience I didn't even realize I was bouncing up and down. Hook tightened his grip on my hand a little bit more as a sight of hope was escaping my parted lips. _Please, I just want all of this to be over. I just want her to be safe..._

"I think it's finally time for you to bring her home."

The time seemed to stop for a second, and my heart skipped a beat. I wanted to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming : these words I had waited to hear for so long, they'd finally become true. My daughter was going to survive. We were going to bring her home and be happy. Our family was finally going to be complete again.

I turned back to look at Killian, not really knowing how to react because some situations are too powerful to be greeted with cries of joy. I was so happy it was making me dizzy. Hook looked at me for a few seconds, seeming completely overwhelmed, and then, at the exact same time, we threw ourselves into the other's arms, laughing and crying at the same time. I was feeling like a huge weight had just been removed from my shoulders. Killian kissed my neck, then pulled a little bit away from me to press a peck on the tip of my nose, before turning to Whale and asking with tears shinning in his eyes :

"When?"

"As soon as you want to. Now, if it's what you wish. It's more than time for you to be reunited with your baby girl."

He was looking genuinely happy for us. He added a "I'm leaving you to it" before walking away, and I looked at Killian again, shaking my head as tears of joy were streaming down my face. This moment, I had dreamt about it for weeks, and I was feeling like I was in heaven. Killian stared at me as if I was the eighth wonder of the world, then stated in a shaky voice :

"I love you. She's safe. She made it, she's a fighter, just like us. God, I love you so, so much Emma Swan."

I burst out laughing, so glad to be with him, so glad that we'd made it through together, and he pressed his mouth against mine, holding me so close to him that he lifted me up from the ground.

We announced the news to our family almost right away, too excited by what we had just learned. The few minutes that followed were only hugs and tears of joy and relief streaming down my loved ones' cheeks. Too eager to get home with the baby, we agreed on leaving most of our stuffs at the hospital and come back to pack afterwards. All that was mattering for now was bringing the baby home, safe, finally.

And half an hour later, the baby found herself snuggled into my arms. She was dressed with a little red outfit, and I wrapped a big blanket around her and placed a beanie on her head so she wouldn't get too cold outside. After all, it was the first time she would go out. It was the first time she would finally be able to discover the world, because she was healed.

I felt a huge wave of joy rushing over me when I got out of the incubators room, my daughter in my arms. Henry and Liam were so happy and excited, and were surrounding their little sister with tenderness. Our little girl was wide awake, but she wasn't crying. She was looking all around her, as if she was trying to understand the world surrounding her. Killian leaned forward to kiss her forehead as I was placing her in her crib, and whispered :

"We're going home."

She let go of a little cry of joy as if she was giving us her consent.

* * *

Only a little while later, we arrived at our house. My parents had joined us to drive us home, themselves so happy by the changes. It was what we'd waited for for weeks, and it was seeming like a dream because it was absolutely perfect. Killian had Liam in his arms, and our son was looking overexcited, happy to be home and to finally be able to watch his little sister without asking for permission. Henry, a huge grin on his face, was looking like the happiest teenager on earth as he was carefully watching over his sister.

We were all together, everyone was fine and safe. I was feeling tears forming in my eyes from the happiness I was experiencing.

Once in the living room, I carefully got the baby out of her crib. She'd fallen asleep during the journey home, rocked by the car's movement and Killian's voice, who'd told her she was the most adorable little girl on earth over and over again. She didn't awaken when I took her against my heart. In a low voice to try not to wake her up, my mom asked :

"Can we go see her room?"

"It's far from being over." I answered, somewhat shyly because I was realizing nothing was ready for our baby girl, the crib wasn't even mounted and I had no idea of where she would sleep in the meantime. "There's nothing much to see, really."

"It's just to see where she's going to sleep." My dad insisted with a kind smile. "And we can help you organize, if you want to."

I shrugged and gestured for them to walk in front of me and go upstairs. I barely looked at where I was walking because I was too busy staring at my perfect little girl : her tiny little hands, her big closed eyes, the way her belly was regularly moving up and down, showing she was breathing easily. I could have watched her for hours. I kept my eyes down on her, a little smile on my face, not believing how happy I actually was. I absent-mindlessly heard Hook saying :

"As Emma said, it's really not over, so..."

He didn't finish his sentence. Intrigued, I looked up right at the moment Liam was letting go of a little cry of awe, and my lips parted in surprise before what I was seeing.

The room was ready. The crib, made out of white wood, was placed against a wall and a module was hanging above it. A set of drawers was on the opposite side, and baby clothes were arranged on the top of it, as if they were expecting us to use them. On a shelf hooked to the wall, dozens of fluffed animals were lining up, including the little teddy bear Killian had won at the carnival during our honey moon. A white rocking-chair was placed in a corner of the room, exactly like in Liam's bedroom. The walls had been painted in light gray and white, the colors we'd chosen, but we'd never had the time to finish the works.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The room was absolutely stunning, and I hadn't expected that kind of thing to happen at all. It was releasing a peaceful and safe atmosphere, just what my baby needed, and it was making my heart inflating with happiness. In awe in front of what they'd done, I turned to my parents and Henry, who were all looking so proud of themselves.

"You did all of this... for us?" I ended up whispering, moved beyond words.

Killian was looking as surprised as I was. The intention was touching my soul : they'd made her a little room without talking to us about it, so she would feel home when she would finally come back. My mom gently smiled at me and said, looking a bit amused by our reactions :

"It was the least we could do. And she has a little place just for her, now that she's here."

I bit my lower lip to try not to start crying and approached my parents, then Henry to all hug them in a quiet thank you. My movements seemed to wake the baby up, and she started to whimper, mad to be awakened like that. I gently rocked her against me, saying in a low voice :

"Look, baby, you're home."

As always, my voice seemed to comfort her. Killian leaned forward to press a kiss on her forehead, what eased her completely as she was staring at her father with her big blue eyes. I looked back at my parents and son, and whispered :

"Thank you... I don't even know what to say..."

"You don't have to say anything, honey." My mom answered, placing her hand on my back. "It was a great pleasure."

"We still need to finish one detail, though." My dad stated, gesturing to show us the wall against which the bed was placed.

My eyes met an inscription that I hadn't noticed yet. Across the wall, written in black with rounded letters, the word _princess_ was showing, what made me giggle softly. It didn't seem to be completely finished, though, and my mom started to talk again :

"We were waiting to know her name to write it on the wall as well." She said with a smile.

"Have you chosen one yet?" Henry intervened, bouncing up and down in excitement.

I shared a brief look with Killian to quietly ask him his opinion. He grinned as an answer and pressed his lips against my forehead in a tender gesture before saying, his nose brushing against mine :

"Maybe it's time to tell them, don't you think?"

I nodded with a little smile and slightly pulled away from him. It was what we'd decided : we would only divulge the baby's name when she would be safe. And she was, now, in my arms, healthy. I took a deep breath, feeling a pinch of happiness in my chest, and stated with tears of joy in my voice :

"It's with great pleasure that I introduce you to the little Leia."

Leia. The fake name I'd given for my first ball, during this adventure that had driven us so close to each other, that had made my last walls fall to let Killian in. This name was special, it was bringing with it a big part of our story. And it was a perfect fit for our little princess.

"That's pretty!" Liam shouted in enthusiasm.

I smiled at my son as Killian was playfully fluffing his hair, and turned back to the rest of my family to have their opinion on this choice that was so important for us.

"So? What do you think?"

"It's beautiful." My mom commented, looking on the edge of crying.

My dad agreed with a little nod and a smile, and I looked at Henry so he would tell me what he was thinking, my eyebrows raised in question. He didn't react right away, but ended up approaching his sister, and he took her little hand in his as her fingers were squeezing his fingertip :

"Welcome home, Leia."

I shared a look with Killian, a lonely tear of joy streaming down my face without me even noticing it.

* * *

 **Here we go! so what do you think about the name? See you Thursday for the epilogue, and for a little special announcement I have to make! :)**


	40. Chapter 40

**So guys... This is the end! Thank you all so damn much for all the support you gave me through this story. It really touches my heart every time, you guys are the best! Stay with me until the end, because I have a little announcement to make at the end of the chapter. I hope you'll like this! Thanks a lot to Nightingale53, oncer4life11, paupaupi, Emilee Amethyst and Araya for the reviews! **

**Here's to the last part of this story!**

* * *

It was Christmas's Eve. Everything was white outside. The snow had fallen non stop all day, sprinkling the roofs, making a thin immaculate coat appear, and had finally ended up stopping a few minutes earlier. It wasn't late at all, but it was already dark outside. It was cold, freezing even, but inside the house, the atmosphere was warm and cosy. Placed in a corner of the living room, a huge Christmas tree was proudly shinning. We hadn't skimped on the decorations that year, and the entire place was enlightened by dozens of colorful lights. Me who had spent each and every Christmas without anybody when I was a kid, I was telling myself that everything had definitely changed so much in my life, and I wanted to offer to my family what was still unkown for me not so long ago. Killian, the kids and I were expected at my parents', who'd invited us for dinner to spend the evening with them. The little loft was going to be crowded : in addition to us, there was going to be Reina, Robin their kids and Henry, who was staying at his other mom's that week. From the living room I was in, I could hear Killian's and Liam's laughter, who were both in the kitchen. They had wanted to bake a cake together for the desert, and had refused my help when I'd offered to join them, claiming that they were planning a surprise. They were obviously having a lot of fun, as always linked by this unbreakable bound between father and son.

I smiled. Laying on my side, my elbow on the floor and my head in my hand, I was watching Leia, who was laying on her play mat and was busy trying to catch her feet, her favorite hobby. She was now three months old, and she was absolutely beautiful. She was still a bit small for her age, but it wasn't a problem anymore. She had Killian's big clear blue eyes, and her hair had started to appear on the top of her head, showing its blond color, just like mine. I could have watched her breath for hours, and was each day remembering the chance I had to be able to see her growing up. With my free hand, I kindly tickled her belly, and she let go of a little cry of joy that made me giggle.

Yet, it wasn't always easy to take care of her. Unlike Liam, who'd always been a cheerful and calm little boy, she was quite often throwing huge tantrums that were lasting for hours and were keeping us awake the entire night. I was exhausted : I hadn't had a full night in ages. Sometimes, I had to admit it, I was feeling like I was going to turn insane. But, despite all of that, I was genuinely happy. My daughter was safe, my two sons were absolutely adorable, and Killian was always there to comfort me when I couldn't take it anymore, and we were more in love than ever. My little family was absolutely perfect, and I was so damn glad to have them by my side.

Leia chirped, releasing those sounds that were always making me chuckle in happiness, and I said in a very gentle voice, answering her babbling as if I could understand what she was saying :

"Yes, I know, princess. It's Christmas today, you know? Your first Christmas ever. It's going to be prefect, you'll see."

She let go of another cry, as if she was agreeing with me, and I burst out laughing at how adorable she was, continuing to gently tickle her stomach. Steps behind my back suddenly rang against the floor, and I sat down cross-legged to greet Liam, who was running toward me with a big smile on his little face. He was overexcited because of the little party, and was looking like the happiest little boy on earth. I kissed his forehead, gently rocking him against me, and I asked to kindly tease him :

"So, sweetheart, you're not helping Daddy anymore?"

"He said it was too dangerous for me." He explained, offering me a little disappointed pout that made me smile.

I guessed that Killian was probably using the beater or the oven, utensils that a little boy like Liam obliviously couldn't approach. I chuckled when I saw him frowning in front of my amused expression, and kindly fluffed his hair to give him his smile back.

"Daddy's right, baby. That's grown-ups stuffs, you could hurt yourself by using them, and I don't want that to happen, because I love you very, very much."

"But Mommy, I'm not a baby anymore!" He protested vehemently.

"What do you mean?" I said, tickling him to make him laugh. "You'll always be my baby."

"No!" He giggled, trying to free himself from my embrace to escape my little attack. "Peanut is the baby now!"

I smiled, tenderized, and stopped annoying him to hold him close to me. We'd continued to call Leia by that surname from time to time, since it was an habit we had taken during the pregnancy, and the kids of the family were liking this a lot. It was giving them the feeling they were older, and Liam was loving being a big brother more than anything. He was feeling empowered by not being the youngest anymore, and had matured a lot since the birth of his little sister. His vocabulary was now way wider, and, even if he'd always been quite curious, he was seeming even more attentive than before, trying to understand every new information the world was giving him.

"You're right, you're not a little baby anymore. But whatever happens, you'll always be my little prince."

A huge smile spread on his face as he was looking happy with my answer, and Leia suddenly started to babble again, what made us both turn to look at her. I approached my hand from her face to gently caress her cheek, what made her smile. I was loving my family so much and I couldn't have been happier.

"Mommy?" Liam asked with curiosity. "Why is Leia making noises like that?"

"Because she's still very little." I patiently explained. "She can't talk yet, so it's her way to communicate with us. I think she's trying to tell us she's happy it's Christmas." I added with a smile.

"But it's weird!"

"You were making the same sounds when you were a baby, you know." I laughed because of his comment.

"No, I was not!" He shouted as if it was obvious.

"Yes, you were!" I replied, laughing even louder. "And you were as small as she is!"

He seemed scandalized by this last statement and opened his mouth to answer something I guessed to be a protestation, but a huge clash coming from the kitchen, instantly followed by a noisy swearword, made us both startle. Leia immediately started to cry, frightened by the din, and Liam escaped my arms to go see what was happening. I sighted, realizing my peaceful moment was now over, and took Leia against me to try and calm her down, whispering to her ear :

"It's okay, princess, Daddy is just making a lot of noise. You don't have to be scared..."

I got up to go join Killian, rocking my daughter against my chest and wincing because of her heartbreaking sobs. I should have been used to it, but it was always making a lump appear in my throat when she was yelling like that. Once in the kitchen, my eyes met the scattered pieces of what was once a bowl made out of glass, and I understood it was the source of the din. I looked up at Hook, who was standing in the middle of the room with a sheepish expression on his face, scratching his ear as always when he was feeling embarrassed. Not far from us, Liam was bouncing up and down, obviously finding all of this really amusing.

"Well done." I scoffed, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I wanted to bake a cake for the desert." He informed me with a little pout.

I couldn't help myself but smile, myself quite amused by the expression his face was displaying and that was making him look like a kid that'd been busted doing something he shouldn't have. I was finding him pretty funny, specially because he was looking like he was expecting me to start yelling, as if he was thinking I was genuinely annoyed by the situation while I honestly didn't really care. It was just a bowl after all. To gently tease him, I said with a little nod as Leia was still sobbing against my shoulder.

"It didn't go as plan, did it?"

He looked up at me, still with this sheepish look, and I couldn't help myself but chuckle while shaking my head. I was familiar with this embarrassed expression, but I also knew he wasn't faking it : he was actually feeling ashamed by what he'd done. He was definitely way too adorable, sometimes. To reassure him and show him I wasn't mad at all, I approached him and carefully handed him the baby :

"Okay, take Leia. I'll fix this."

It wasn't complicated for me to fix the damage after all : with a little flick of my wrist, I'd made everything better thanks to my magic. Liam looked at the pieces getting back together while clapping, impressed by this little trick, and Killian offered me a relieved look, a shy smile on his lips :

"Thank you so much, Swan. You're not mad, are you?"

"Of course I'm not mad, you idiot." I smiled, tenderized by his childlike behavior. "It's Christmas's Eve. And I need more to really be angry at you, you know that. I love you way too much for that."

His smile widened and he whispered a "I love you more" before leaning forward to gently kiss my lips, keeping his forehead pressed against mine for a few seconds after our mouths had parted. Leia was still yelling in his arms, and I gently rubbed our baby girl's back to try and ease her, but it didn't work. He rocked her against him with a sorry sight, and stated :

"I'm so sorry, love, because of me she won't stop crying now. I promise you I'll fix this..."

"It's okay, just be careful the cake doesn't burn in the oven, and the entire house with it, and I'll be grateful for it." I answered, amused as he was snorting at my comment.

"Mommy!" Liam then cried out, both his hands against his ears and an angry look on his face. "Leia is too loud!"

"I know, sweetheart." I said with a little smile to my boy before turning back to Killian. "Come on, give her to me. She'll end up calming down eventually, the little monster."

He smiled, knowing all too well the way I'd just called our daughter was showing all my love for her, and he obeyed before bending in front of the oven to make sure the cake wasn't burning, answering my request. The baby in my arms, I walked to the living room while gently rocking her against me and sat down on the sofa, pressing a kiss on the top of her head, but it didn't ease her. An idea suddenly came to my mind to try and calm her down as she was still shaking from her heartbreaking sobs. Without asking myself more questions, in a very gentle voice, I started to sing, hoping that, as always, my voice would end up comforting her.

I'd discovered this trick two weeks ago, and it was the method that was working the best. All the songs from the cartoons of my childhood had ended up being sung to the baby, and, this time, it was the Anastasia's song, _once upon a December_ , that had come to my mind first. Hearing my voice, Liam ran toward us and sat down beside me on the couch to listen to me singing, his eyes widened as he huge smile had spread on his lips.

As I was continuing the song, Leia gradually calmed down, and she ended up getting completely quiet, staring at me with her big blue eyes as if she was trying to analyze me. I however didn't stop to please Liam, who was still carefully listening to me, and the baby finally closed her eyes, comforted by my voice :

" _And a song someone sings, Once upon a December..."_

The room stayed quiet for a few seconds after I'd finished singing. It was Killian who started to talk again, making me look up as I hadn't noticed he was watching me, leaning against one of the wall of the room. His eyes were shinning with a spark of pure love, and I couldn't help but smile at him, feeling butterflies flying in my stomach as always when I was meeting his gaze.

"I love hearing you sing. You have such a beautiful voice." He simply stated.

"Come on, stop it." My smile widened as he was approaching me to press a kiss on my forehead.

"Ask Liam if you don't believe me. What do you think, little mate?"

"Mommy can sing really well!" My son shouted with enthusiasm.

"See?" Hook said with half a smile. "I'm telling the truth."

I kept on smiling without adding anything, feeling myself blushing a little bit because of all these compliments, and I leaned forward to kiss Liam on the crown of his head. Hook sat down next to us, and our son snuggled between the both of us, giggling in happiness by feeling us so close to him. I raised an eyebrow at Killian and playfully asked :

"You've gotten the cake out of the oven, right?"

"Who do you think I am, Swan?" He replied, falsely offended. "It's like you don't even trust me!"

"Of course I trust you, I was just making sure I was right to do so." I chuckled lightly, pressing a quick peck on his lips to make him smile. "We still have time before going to my parents', and everything is ready. So now what?"

"I propose we enjoy the quiet moment." Hook said with a smile, looking down at Leia who had fallen asleep in my arms.

Without adding anything, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders to hold me close to him as I was leaning against his chest and he was pressing his face against my head to breathe me in. It was something we were doing quite often since Leia's birth, these big embraces between all of us. We were staying close to each other for several minutes, just enjoying the others' presences around us. When Henry was with us, he would always moan about it when we wanted to pull him into the hug, complaining it was lame and cheesy, but he'd always end up letting go of his jaded teenage boy expression to join us in this family moment.

I looked at my family for a long while. Liam, who was growing up so fast and was more and more looking like his dad with each passing day. Leia, asleep in my arms, who was absolutely gorgeous. Henry, who wasn't there but who we were meeting in a little while, who was becoming a wonderful man, always ready to help, kind, polite, absolutely perfect. I turned my head to look at Killian, who was already watching me. He smiled at me and a spark enlightened his clear blue eyes. The love that was bounding us all was like crackling in the air. Despite my exhaustion, despite all of these little issues was had to face, I was so damn happy. Because my family was my everything, and I was loving them beyond words. Because before Henry brought me back to Storybrooke, before I met Killian, I thought I was destined to lead a lonely life, I thought no one would never love me. And here I was, surrounded, loved. I couldn't have been happier.

Killian seemed to hear my quiet thoughts, and he leaned forward to press a long, tender kiss on my lips, assuring me that I was perfectly right : I would never be alone ever again.

* * *

We decided to walk to my parents' loft instead of taking the car. It'd stopped snowing anyways, and we knew our son loved the snow. He was by the way having fun a few steps ahead of us, joyfully jumping into the thin white coat while giggling out loud. Leia was settled in a baby carrier that was tied around my chest, wrapped into a big red coat and a beanie on her little head. We were so careful with her, we were always scared she would get cold because she was coming from so far. Killian and I didn't talk much during the journey, just holding hands and trying not to fall over in the snow, watching Liam laughing as he was seeing his footsteps printed on the ground behind him.

We arrived earlier than expected at my parents'. Regina, Robin, Henry and the kids were therefore not there yet, and David and Mary-Margaret were busy getting everything ready in the kitchen. My mom greeted us with a warm smile and an embrace, and her eyes started to sparkle in happiness when she met my gaze :

"What?" I asked with a little chuckle, a bit embarrassed by the way she was looking at me.

"Nothing, honey." She shrugged. "I was just telling myself that after everything you've been through, you finally seem happy. You're absolutely glowing, it's beautiful to witness."

"Stop it." I blushed, sharing a little glance with Killian with a sheepish smile.

"Your mother's right, Swan." He answered with half a smile. "And you're absolutely gorgeous."

I shyly looked down because of all these compliments. I was dressed in a light knee-length red dress that was showing a good part of my back, and had tied my hair into a long braid that was resting over my right shoulder. Since I'd gotten out of the bathroom, Killian was looking at me like I was the most beautiful woman on earth, and he was regularly pressing little kisses on my face and on my lips, his eyes shinning with pure happiness. I had to admit it was actually kind of pleasing me.

"Emma! Can I hold Leia?" Neal asked, grabbing my leg with a huge smile full of hope.

"Of course you can, sweetie." I said, gesturing for him to sit down on the sofa. "You just have to be very careful with her, all right?"

He enthusiastically nodded and obeyed by settling on the living room couch. Neal was a big fan of his little niece, and he'd already taken her once or twice against him. He was four years old now, and Killian and I had decided that he was old enough to hold the baby if he was sitting down. Liam moved from his dad's arms to my mom's so Killian could help me to take the baby carrier of my chest. When it was done, I placed a still asleep Leia – which was pretty surprising as she was normally getting awakened quite easily – in my baby brother's arms, saying :

"You have to be careful with her head, remember?"

He nodded with a focused frown, and I sat down next to him in case he would need my help. I smiled at Liam, who was wriggling in my mother's arms, and asked him to come near me. He came to settle on my lap as I was pulling him close to my chest and kissing the crown of his head.

"Mommy? When could I take Peanut too?"

I shared an amused look with Killian, and he came to sit down next to us, wrapping an arm around my waist to pull me close. We'd discussed about this subject for a long while, and we'd decided that, since Liam wasn't even three yet, it was still a bit early for him to take his little sister. This didn't really please our son, who was finding it unfair that Neal was allowed to hold Leia, but not him.

"We've already talked about it, sweetheart. You'll be able to take her when you'll be a bit older." I kindly explained.

"But when will I be older?" He protested with a little pout. "It's long!"

"I know." I laughed, pressing a kiss on his forehead. "But don't be too eager to grow up."

He didn't answer anything, and I leaned against Killian, resting my head on his shoulder while watching Neal, who was still staring at the sleeping baby in his arms without moving a bit. He was always looking frightened to do something wrong when she was against him, but he was smiling at the same time, seeming happy to feel his little niece close to him. Without notice, Leia opened her eyes and started to cry, and my brother turned to look at me with his eyes widened in terror.

"Hey, don't worry, Neal, you've done nothing wrong." I assured him with a kind smile. "She probably needs to be changed.

"I'll go." Killian decided without giving me the time to add anything else.

He got off the couch, wrapped Leia's bag around his shoulder and took the baby in his arms before disappearing upstairs, in Neal's room. My parents had built a little corner for our daughter there after her birth, which was definitely quite useful when we were coming to see them.

"Wow." My dad said with a little appreciative nod. "He's doing very well, tell me."

"He is." I said with a little tenderized smile, hearing him talking in a gentle voice to our baby girl from upstairs, even if I couldn't understand what he was saying. "Who would have thought the famous captain would like to take care of kids that much?"

It was true. He was spending so much time with Liam, and was absolutely in love with Leia, taking her in his arms every time he could to cuddle her and tell her tales about oceans and hidden treasures. I had to admit that, while Liam was always calming down when I was taking him against me, Killian was quite often the only one able to comfort Leia when she was having one of her numerous tantrums. I could already see the bound that was starting to form between them while our daughter was only three months old, and it was so beautiful to witness. He loved our kids beyonds words, it was obvious, and I couldn't have wished for a better father for them. I also knew he was such a father figure to Henry, and it wasn't unusual for them to go sailing for an afternoon on the Jolly Rodger. I was so proud of my husband, of the love I was reading in his eyes when he was looking at our kids, of the way he was always there to advice Henry, of his strength that could reassure Liam when he'd had a nightmare and of his gentleness that could comfort Leia. I was so happy to have brought my walls down to let him into my life. I was loving him so much, I would never have thought I would be able to live this kind of relationship with someone before meeting him. He wasn't only my lover, he was also my best friend. My happiness, I had found it for a big part thanks to him. And even if I wasn't that good with words, I knew he was aware of what I was feeling for him. And I also knew he was feeling the exact same thing for me.

I got driven out of my thoughts by Regina, Robin, Henry and the kids coming into the loft. They approached me as I was getting up to greet them, and I saw Killian going down the stairs with a quiet Leia in his arms as I was hugging my eldest son. Hook smiled at the guests and winked at me before handing me the baby and going into the bathroom to clean himself up. Neal and Liam ran to go join Roland and Robyn, as the grown-ups leaned to look at Leia, all smiling at how adorable she looked. A few minutes later, they were all talking together, standing in the living room as I was holding a bit back, enjoying a moment alone with my daughter, who was staring at me while joyfully babbling. I was looking down at her, and startled when a little voice started to talk beside me :

"She's pretty."

I looked up to meet Robyn's beautiful eyes – the same as her mother's – who was looking a bit shyly at me. I was surprised that she'd come to see me by herself. She was a very shy little girl, and wasn't talking much. But she looked at the baby with a very gentle smile, and I kindly answered :

"Yes, she is. She's a little princess, just like you are."

She offered me a genuine smile, titling her head to look at me straight into my eyes. She was looking a lot like Zelena, with her long red hair, but their tempers were the complete opposites. She was now seeing her biological mother several times a week, always under the watchful eyes of Robin or Regina. We'd decided to erase a part of the little girl's memory so she wouldn't remember that Zelena had tried to abduct her : we wanted their relationship to be the best possible, and the kid would have been terrified if she'd recalled this episode. She was getting along with the witch pretty well, who'd become much kinder since she knew her daughter. I knew she was invited to eat at Regina's several times a month as well. It hadn't pleased Robin at first, which was understandable because the witch had used him in such a terrible way to get pregnant, but Regina had wanted to give her another chance. And, for now at least, everything was going just fine.

"It's great, because I'm not the only girl anymore, now." Robyn stated.

"Yes, it's awesome, isn't it?" I gently said. "I'm sure you two are going to be best friends when she'll be a bit older."

She smiled at me again and skipped to go join her friends. I decided to not stay alone for longer and went to find the other guests, my baby in my arms. The discussion was going well between my friends, and Killian immediately placed his arm around my waist once I'd joined the circle that had naturally formed in the middle of the room. He leaned to press a little kiss on the corner of my mouth, as if he wanted to greet me into the conversation. Everyone was looking in such a good mood, the kids were happy it was Christmas, the smiles weren't leaving the faces and the laughter were ringing into the space. It was going to be a good night, I could tell.

* * *

The few hours I'd just lived had been absolutely perfect. Leia had barely cried all night, the kids were seeming so happy and we'd shared laughter and jokes for hours. We were now sat around the table, eating the desert – a huge chocolate log cooked by my mom, and the cake that Killian had baked all by himself. The baby was in my parents' room, sleeping in Neal's old crib. Leaning against the back of my chair, I was absent-mindlessly listening to my family teasing each other. It'd been two months since the last crisis, and everything was just fine in Storybrooke for now. I was aware it was only a peaceful moment and we would surely have to face another monster soon, but oddly enough, it wasn't bothering me that much anymore. I was used to it, now, and I knew that no matter what, we would always win. And I was so grateful to be able to spend a little time with Killian and my kids without something threatening us. It wasn't usual in this town, and I was enjoying this moment like a true treasure.

Suddenly feeling watched, I turned my head to meet Killian's glance, who smiled at me with so much softness my heart skipped a beat. I searched for his hand under the table and pressed his fingers between mine. After all we'd been through, after all those tears, those cries, this fear, we were finally able to live peacefully. And we were going to enjoy this happiness, because after what we'd lived recently, we deeply needed it.

We stared at each other with so much intensity that for a second, I felt like leaning forward to start kissing him breathlessly, completely forgetting my family's presence around us. But we got interrupted in our quiet stares by Leia's cries, that were ringing from my parents' room. Without waiting any longer, feeling the need to go comfort my daughter, as always when she was starting to sob, I got up and said :

"I'm going."

I rushed toward the little crib to get to her the quicker possible, and took her against me, gently rocking her in my arms. My method didn't seem to work, though, because she continued to yell in anger. In a very soft voice, I whispered to her ear while walking back to my family :

"You're hungry, aren't you, princess? We're going to arrange this, don't worry."

"Give her to me." Killian asked with a kind smile. "I think it's my turn to feed her."

I smiled back at him. We'd initiated a schedule, and we were feeding our daughter in turn. That way, each one of us could spend a little time with Liam, and the other with the baby. I obeyed and carefully gave him the little one before taking the bottle of milk we'd put into the bag we were taking everywhere with us. With a surprising dexterity given the fact he only had one hand, he approached the bottle from Leia, who instantly stopped crying. Her eyes wide open, she started to greedily drink the milk as if she was literally starving.

"Are you guys sure you're feeding her?" Regina said in a teasing tone. "It looks like she hasn't eaten for three days."

"Don't make fun of us, because we're quite happy she's always hungry." I replied with a chuckle, my eyes still staring at Killian, who was watching Leia with a little smile. "Thanks to that, she's even beginning to reach a normal size. It's a good sign given how far she comes."

"But Mommy!" Liam started to babble, as he'd put chocolate all around his mouth, what made me raise an amused eyebrow at him. "Daddy can't eat anymore, now!"

I looked at Killian's still half-full plate, as he'd looked up to listen to our son with a smile, winking at him. When my eyes met his again, I shrugged and said in a playful tone :

"He's right, you know, you're pretty busy right now."

"Life is hard." He replied in the same falsely distraught tone, what made me snort in amusement.

"But you can help him to eat!" Liam shouted again, looking overexcited by everything that was happening.

"You want me to feed Daddy?" I asked, surprised by this unexpected demand.

"Why not!" Neal said, helping his little nephew and looking as happy as our son. "Mommy does that with Daddy all the time!"

"We really didn't need to know that." Regina mumbled with a falsely shocked expression.

Henry laughed so hard he almost spit the milk he was trying to drink, as my mom was becoming as red as my dress. Myself pretty amused by the conversation, pressing my lips in order not to start laughing as well, I decided to save my parents from this embarrassing situation anyways. I turned back to Killian, shaking my head :

"If the kids insist..."

He laughed, knowing all too well what I had in mind, and I got a piece of the cake with my fork to approach it from his lips. He played along and winked at me again, as I was leaning forward once he'd swallowed his part to share a kiss with a deliciously chocolate taste to it.

"Have we already told you you're so cute it's becoming sickening?" Regina jeered, what made us both chuckle as my forehead was still pressed against his, our noses brushing against one another.

"All the time!" Henry added, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, you have nothing to tell them, young man." My dad gently teased him. "Have you seen how you are with Violet?'

His comment made everyone laugh as Henry was turning bright red. I pulled away from my husband and casually left my hand on his thigh to keep a physical contact with him. It was true that my son was still dating the girl, it'd been three years since they'd met and it was becoming quite serious. She wasn't there with us that night, she was spending Christmas with her dad, but they were spending a lot of time together and were very, very close. Embarrassed, my son looked down at his plate to try and pull himself together, and I decided to help him so he wouldn't feel even more uncomfortable.

"Between all these couples, we can be happy there isn't any mistletoe in the apartment, because it would have been a kiss party in here."

"Because you think I need mistletoe to kiss you, princess?" Killian replied, raising an eyebrow at me.

We all shared playful glances from above the table and, as if we'd conferred, I leaned toward Killian to press a little peck on his lips as Regina and Robin and my parents were doing the same.

"Ew!" Roby, Roland, Neal and Liam shouted in a same voice, what made us all burst out laughing as we were pulling away from each other.

* * *

It was very late when we crossed the door of our house. The party had lasted for a long while, and we'd had a lot of fun, but the kids were now exhausted. Leia was sleeping in her baby carrier, and Hook got her out to take her in his arms and go upstairs for bedtime. Once he had disappeared into the staircase, I left Liam up from the ground, kissing his forehead and saying with a smile :

"Okay, come on, buddy. It's time to go to bed."

"But I'm not tired!" He protested while rubbing his eyes.

I shook my head, tenderized by how adorable he looked as he was yawning. Despite his affirmation, he was absolutely exhausted, and I knew he only wanted to stay awake to imitate Henry, who was still ready to stay up all night when we'd left the loft. I walked to the stairs and chuckled at his comment :

"On the contrary, young man, I think you are very tired." I replied as, exhausted, he had rested his head against my shoulder.

I quickly helped him put on his pajamas, and told him a little story until he'd closed his eyes, what didn't take very long as it was way past his usual bedtime. Once I was sure he was asleep, I pressed a last kiss on the crown of his head and walked toward my own room, leaving the door of Liam's bedroom open in case there would be a problem during the night. When I arrived, Killian was already waiting for me, leaning against a wall of the room.

"So..." He whispered, raising an eyebrow at me in a charming look as I was closing the door behind my back.

"So... We're finally alone." I stated with half a smile, turning back to face him, feeling my heartbeats racing at his sight.

Because I had held back during the entire night, but I wanted him. I wanted to feel his arms wrapped around me and his body pressed against mine. I wanted to kiss him everywhere as he would let himself go against me. I wanted to feel him inside of me. I bit my lower lip, feeling a familiar heat firing in my lower-stomach. I looked at him with what I knew were almost ridiculously longing eyes as he was approaching me with a slight smile, his one gaze darkened with lust.

"Are you trying to turn me on, Swan?" He whispered, wrapping his arm around me to pull me very close, allowing me to notice his growing arousal.

"What do you think, Captain?" I answered in a husky voice.

I didn't even have the time to realize what my sentence had provoked in him, because he'd attacked my mouth, his kisses giving me the shivers, and I moaned when he caught my lower lip in between his teeth. It was almost crazy that, after all these years, he was still managing to make butterflies appear in my stomach. Without waiting any longer, too eager to finally get what I wanted, I helped him get rid of his shirt to stroke his warm chest with my fingers. He wasn't long to make me take off my dress and we both fell on the bed. I buried my face into the crook of his neck to stifle my sights as he was gently biting my ear, and had to hold myself back so I wouldn't start moaning when his kisses started to trace a path on my stomach, his mouth getting lower and lower as I was cupping the back of his neck to encourage him in his task.

* * *

Snuggled against Killian's chest, my breathing still a bit jerky as we'd just finished our quite enjoyable activities – for the second time since we'd come home – I absent-mindlessly caressed his still bare chest with my fingers as his hand was playing with my hair. We were both exhausted, and I was slowly falling asleep in his arms. I hadn't even bothered on putting on some clothes, Killian's amrs were enough for me to keep warm, and the only thing covering our naked skins were the bedsheets. I closed my eyes, kissed Hook's collarbone one last time and felt I was drifting from the world...

"Daddy! Mommy!"

We shared a look and both sighted, aware that our peaceful moment was now over for good. I took the time to kiss Killian on the cheek, then on the lips, and on the neck one more time, before getting off the bed to put on panties and a wide t-shirt that was covering my thighs, as Hook was dressing as well. We both left the room to join our son's, our fingers interlaced as we were crossing the hall.

Against all odds, Liam didn't seem to have awakened Leia with his cry, which was a pretty good thing. My son was standing in his crib, and looked at us coming in, his hair messy and his eyes still full of sleep.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" I gently asked, placing my hand against his forehead to make sure he was okay and wasn't calling us because he was running a fever, and smiling when I realized everything seemed right. "Have you had a nightmare?"

"Is it time for the gifts yet?" He answered with his eyes full of hope.

I shared an amused look with Killian, and he chuckled because of our son's comment. Liam was overexcited about these gifts he was going to receive in the morning. He didn't know it yet, but he was going to have a ton of toys, and I was really looking forward to seeing his reaction when he would discover the little pirate ship we had bought him, along with a sailor outfit, knowing all too well how much he was admiring his dad. But for now, I had to admit it, I just wanted to go get some sleep. Killian then said, gently stroking our son's cheek with a little smile :

"Aw, not yet, little mate, we're in the middle of the night. But I promise you that if you sleep, the time will go fast and you'll have your gifts very, very soon."

"But I'm not tired." Liam answered with a pout.

"Okay, do you want us to tell you a story to help you sleep?" I patiently offered.

He enthusiastically nodded and sat down in his bed, waiting for us to begin. I smiled and went to grab the rocking-chair to place it just in front of Liam. Killian sat down on it, and I settled on his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck. He placed both his arms on my waist to pull me closer to him, and turned to our son to ask :

"What story do you want to hear, sweetie?"

"I want my favorite!" he shouted with a big smile.

I turned back to Killian and smiled at him, losing myself in the blue of his eyes for a few seconds. We both exactly knew what our son was talking about : It was our story he wanted to hear. The one telling how we'd fallen in love with each other. The one that was telling our entire tale, and it was like a real fairytale, because, at the end, we were actually living happily ever after. I kissed Killian on the corner of his mouth, then turned to look at our son, who was watching us with a bright smile.

"Very well, then. Once upon a Time, there was a pirate and a princess..."

* * *

 **And this is the end! It was such a pleasure writing this fiction, and reading your comments every chapters. Your support means the world to me! I really do hope you liked this story, I know it's far from being perfect, but I'm really trying to improve myself!**

 **And for the little announcement... Well, I wrote something that can be considered as the next part of this story (no pregnancy this time, it's a promise!). It starts two years after this chapter, Liam is therefore 4, and Leia is 2. The fiction is already completely written and is 23 chapters long. It focusses on the issues a long time couple can face. It has a lot of angst, but also a lot of fluff, and a huge amount of jealous Emma (hehe). I hope you'll be there to read it! I'll start posting around the end of June, when I'll be done with my exams. I'll post a little word on here to let you know about it, for those who are interested :)**

 **Once again, thank you all so so so much. I love you guys, and hope to see you soon!**


	41. Information concerning my new fiction

**Hi, you guys!**

 **It's a pleasure to come back here after a month of exams! As promised before, I'm announcing here that I'm (finally) starting to update my new fiction, called "Missing you". You can find it on my profile if you're interested in reading it! Here's the summary :**

 **"Emma Swan has every reason to be happy. Three beautiful kids, a big family, a husband she loves so damn much. One day, she gets a call from her father : something's happening near the town line. Little does she know that what she's about to find there is going to change everything in the perfect relationship she's sharing with Killian Jones."**

 **For those who will read it, I so hope you will like it! It has a lot of angst but also a lot of fluff, and I really enjoyed writing it!**

 **See you soon!**

 **\- Hope**


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